Prophetic Fulfillment
by Synonymia
Summary: An ancient prophecy of doom, an unimagineable evil, a mysterious woman with equally mysterious powers, and Reno caught in the middle. Hope remains in the unlikeliest of people. [On hiatus.]
1. Prologue

**

Prophetic Fulfillment  


** _A Shinimegami Rena Valentine Production_

Prologue:

_After the planet is saved from the great evil from above, and the greatest of all magics is summoned, peace shall reign for five short years. In the eighth month, this peace shall be cut short. Evil will come from an unlikely place, in a force only imaginable. Chaos will replace peace. Fire will rain from the sky. The earth will tremble and rip open. Death will be imminent for all._

Hope remains in one. A lost warrior will be discovered once more. Hair of fire, eyes like emeralds. His power will awaken from its slumber. Only he can...

[Manuscript damaged in great fire]

~*~

A/N: Beginning to my new multi part little epic. If you can't figure out who the prophecy is speaking of... well... it isn't that hard, it's actually quite easy. 

I like to think that the worlds from six, seven, and eight can be thought of as the same world. This story will be based on this thought. Different eras over many, many years change the face of the world, but the history remains the same. 

In other words, knowing information from six and eight could definitely help in understanding, but isn't really necessary. 

~*~

Nope, I still don't own Squaresoft.  



	2. Found By The Wayside

**Prophetic Fulfillment**  
_A Shinimegami Rena Valentine Production_

**Chapter 1  
Found By the Wayside.**

_"I am aware that you are awake, so you can quit gawking..."_ Genesis Atlantis

He gasped, pitched backwards sharply.

Bright light, sudden pain.

Skin met grating sand. The curious warble of a chocobo, followed by the galloping of the fleeing animal. He writhed.

Pain, drilling, stabbing, shattering his mind, body, senses, emotions, reality. He arched his back, opened his mouth to scream. Anything to give the pain a voice.

Silence.

For a moment he saw everything. Then he saw nothing.

"Yah!"

A single voice arose from the shrill howling of a cool, dry southern wind, the voice distinguishably female. She was riding atop a large, golden chocobo, it's yellowish feathers softly glowing in the brightness of a near full moon, and she was in a hurry.

The Corel desert was, perhaps, one of the most underrated of dangerous terrains. In truth, it was generally barren. Few natural monsters thrived during the scorching heat of the day, preferring to live in burrows under the soft, hot sand. And likewise, few travelers decided to venture across the area at night. Therein laid the inherent dangers the desert posed. Drastically dropping temperatures and dangerous nocturnal creatures, combined with sheer darkness claimed more lives than the heat ever did. You didn't want to be out in the desert unless you were extraordinarily powerful, lucky, downright foolish, or had a death wish. And even then, it wasn't advised.

This woman fell under the oftentimes unnoticed, 'none of the above' category. She was powerful in mind and spirit, but her fighting skills left much to be desired. She could take care of herself, but in the face of a large monster, and without the aide of magic, she would have to rely on speed or luck. And luck was something she dared not put her life in the hands of. She prided herself on not being foolish. She did, however, want to live. Letting out another yell, she squeezed the animal with her stirrups, coaxing the bird further ahead. Her residence was just a while away, and she was at most two miles away from the heart of the desert. Grasping the reins with one hand, she lowered a pair of protective goggles, shielding her violet eyes from the onslaught of sand. The storm was coming, and faster than she had anticipated.

Why didn't I leave sooner? She berated herself. She knew she was more than welcome to stay another night at Cosmo Canyon. Nanaki even insisted, but she had turned him down. Something told her that she should return. She'd spent a week away from home, and though the beauty of the Canyon, along with the warm friendliness of the Cosmanii had begun to grow on her, she knew that she had to return. Business at her chocobo ranch had just begun to boom and she couldn't leave the place to fend for itself. Besides, it would be irresponsible to leave her birds in the hands of caretakers longer than she had paid them. There was time to return to Cosmo Canyon again, and with the events which were transpiring, she knew that she would be returning again, soon enough.

Genesis Atlantis had been lucky. She had managed to allocate the required funds to leave her business for a week, just in time to witness the archaeological find of the century. Ancient Cosmanii scrolls, not only speaking of the prehistory of the region, but also of a forthcoming prophecy. By the time she had left, one thing was certain – the prophecy wasn't a good one. And, although it chilled her to the core, the scrolls left some sort of hope – references, although vague, concerning a "Chosen One."

Something was nagging her concerning this part of the prophecy. She couldn't shake it, and it didn't make sense. Genesis had shrugged it off, however. This trip had reminded her of so much, giving her incite not only concerning her birthplace, but also the history of her own people, a people now thought mythical in their scarcity. The Mage Warriors.

In truth, she herself had no idea how many Mage Warriors remained on the planet. She herself wasn't even full Mage, her powers less than that of her ancestors, either by descent, or by time. Genesis fingered the Amethyst stone hanging around her neck, keepsake of the Atlantis Clan. She hoped she could make something of herself, make her own little place this history of her family, her people.

"Wark!" She was shaken out of her reverie when Kieran, her chocobo thrust itself back, screeching in fear. Holding on, Genesis fought for control, grasping the reins and squeezing the animal with her legs. She couldn't fall off... Kieran was her best chocobo, by both breeding and training. It had to be something bad, something dangerous, and she wasn't ready for a battle. Slowly, she calmed the bird and got him to back up slowly, allowing her to see what had scared him.

"Oh... my..." She managed, her voice barely above a whisper, lost in the cool winds. A figure lay in soft sands, motionless and outstretched. She jumped from the bird, her boots sinking into the powdery grains as she knelt by the man's side, noting his steady shallow breathing, and offering a prayer of thanks to the planet.

_The cold,_ she thought sullenly. Genesis had heard the horror stories : bodies found half buried in the sands, obviously succumbing to the drastic fluctuations in temperature, from over one hundred degrees down to near freezing. In truth, it was dumb luck that she had found him. Luckier still that she was within a reasonable distance from her home. But... something seemed off about him. Something was innately wrong, she could sense it. He wasn't injured, and he didn't quite have the right symptoms for someone suffering hypothermia. He whimpered softly every few breaths, however, as if something was hurting him, either physically or psychologically. She took a chance and poked him, softly, hoping to awaken him.

No response.

She pressed further, pushing him onto his back, checking him further for injuries and hoping to get some sort of response. He flopped, unceremoniously over, shivering with the movement. No injuries that she could find, unless they were internal.

Genesis was about to move him onto her chocobo when something in her mind clicked. Something had seemed strange about him, something in his aura, something... familiar. She squinted in the darkness, trying to see this man more clearly in the moonlight. Her eyes were rather adept at seeing in the dark, due to her heritage.

_Deep, flaming red hair..._

Her eyes widened as she looked to his face, his nose, his cheekbones, his chin. It all seemed to fall into place, this great coincidence. She had known many redheads in her life, but one always stood out to her – Her only friend growing up in Cosmo Canyon and the only one like her.

_No... it can't be... _

He moaned softly and opened his glazed over eyes slightly, the emerald color clearly visible in the light of the moon. He squinted, his eyes trying to make out her shape, make sense of his predicament, but he soon gave in to exhaustion, his eyes rolling in the back of his head as unconsciousness once again set in.

Genesis bit her lower lip as she stroked his hair back, grains of sand loosening themselves. It couldn't be him, but it had to be. She would know those eyes anywhere, they were unlike any other she had ever, or would ever see. She was once again reunited with her best friend, Reno Charlemagne.

Moving to pick him up as best as possible, she gasped, noting something she hadn't before - twin scars below his eyes, the smooth pink flesh contrasting with his pale skin. Red hair. Emerald eyes. Scars. She took a step back in disbelief. It didn't make sense. It couldn't be. She hated to jump to conclusions, but it had all come together. It couldn't be a coincidence.

"The prophecies..." Her memory flashed back to Cosmo Canyon. To the scholars. To their transliterations. She ran a finger over one scar, making sure it was real. Finding it to be so.

"...It's... you?"

_"Battle Scars adorn his face. Evidence of fights in the past. Foreshadowing fights to come..." _

Fragmant of charred and damaged manuscript

**Awaken.**

_Am I alive?_

**Awaken... now.**

_But how...? What happened?_

_...Is this really me?_

_Am I alive?_

_Am... I?_

_Am I... me?_

A moan, a whimper, then consciousness in a striking jolt, a rush of being. Reno's eyes shot open to be met with a place he had never been before, and a great deal of confusion. Nothing seemed to be making sense. How had he gotten from the Corel desert to this... place?

_How am I here? I don't... feel drunk... _ He placed a hand on his forehead, trying to rub the sense back into himself. He didn't want to question a good thing – wherever he was, it was much better than lying in the middle of a wasteland. He looked around, curiously, moving his head with care, hoping not to worsen his subsiding headache. The room was Spartan, sparse. There were few decorations, a painting over a brick fireplace. A carpet. Minimal furniture, consisting of a sofa adjacent to his own and a coffee table. He laid his head back down and sighed. At least the sofa was soft.

Something felt weird. He knew he wasn't drunk. He couldn't remember drinking. He couldn't remember going to someone's home. All he could remember was the pain, his collapsing. And... a voice?

Reno shook his head. No... that didn't make sense... It must have been a dream, an illusion. He closed his eyes and leaned back.

But still, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off... Wrong. His body felt numb, his head pounding with a force worse than any hangover, and yet he didn't feel nauseous. Just... strange. Almost undescribable. For the first time in a while, Reno was worried.

He heard footsteps coming his way, pounding and echoing from the kitchen onto the softness of carpeting. The sound seemed strange, a little too acute to his hearing, making him inwardly wince. The sound ceased. He opened his eyes slowly, looking toward the figure – A woman sat on the other sofa, calmly stirring a steaming cup of tea, seemingly oblivious to his state of consciousness.

_Must have found me..._ Reno had to admit that she was attractive. Not over the top like many of the women he knew or worked with, but mysterious and graceful. She carried herself elegantly, even in the comfort of her home, holding herself upright, her legs crossed. She wore a white sleeveless shirt with ornate, belt like straps, which complimented the matching double belt strung around her hips. Her skirt was a light tan color and appeared to be made of suede, reached just above her black, dusty boots. Her long forearms were adorned with black fingerless gloves, reaching up to her elbows.

Her hair caught his eyes though. It was... intriguing. Straight, black waves flowed just past her shoulders, pure black except for two streaks, along either side shining silver. She blew the steam from her cup, and placed it down on the table.

"I am aware that you are awake, so you can quit gawking..." Her voice pierced through the air, simultaneously sharp and silky. She spoke with an accent he couldn't quite recognize.

Reno scrounged for words. This woman was very astute. "I... where am I?' His voice sounded strange in his ears, somehow different. In one deft motion she stood up and smiled. "I found you yesterday when I was traveling through the desert from my trip Cosmo Canyon. You are currently situated at my Chocobo ranch..."

He pulled himself up, leaning against the cushions, a thoughtful expression playing upon his face. "...And you are?"

The smile dropped from her face and she almost seemed... hurt? Reno was confused... For a moment she seemed as if she recognized him. Like she had known him before. She looked to the floor. "You don't remember me?"

He smirked, "Never seen you before, in my life."

"I'm Genesis Atlantis... We grew up together in Cosmo Canyon... our families were friends, the friendship spanning generations across the Mage Warrior line."

Reno chuckled to himself. "You're... a Mage Warrior?"

Her violet gaze shot up to meet his. She was surprised, worried, sad. How could he not remember her? Not remember what he was? She paused a moment, picking her words carefully.

"Yes... As are you... Reno Alec Charlemagne."


	3. Visions and Revelations

**Prophetic Fulfillment**  
_A Shinimegami Rena Valentine Production_

**Chapter 2  
Visions and Revelations**

_"Oughtta dye the rest of your hair silver though. Then you'll resemble everyone's favorite deceased psychopath. Now _that's_ truly scary."_ Reno Charlemagne

Silence.

Reno stared at Genesis. Genesis stared at Reno.

Reno burst into laughter.

"Riiiight. Okay. I'm going to go back to reality and you, well... it was nice meeting ya." He wasn't in the mood for a fairy tale and he wasn't in the mood for dealing with the socially and psychologically inept. "I suggest you seek some professional help, sister."

"Excuse me?"

"You are crazy. Nuts. Out of your fucking gourd." He grinned. "That bit with my name though. That was the icing on the cake. Oughtta dye the rest of your hair silver though. Then you'll resemble everyone's favorite deceased psychopath. Now _that's_ truly scary."

The girl crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised an eyebrow.

"Anyone with the right computer know-how could find out my full name. 'Course, it'd be easier to just rummage through my wallet." Reno stood up and stretched, noting the familiar pressure of leather in his back pocket. She would have had to stick her hand in an... interesting location to get that little piece of evidence. And this Genesis seemed a little too formal and uptight to do such a thing, unless it had been a dire emergency.

"I need neither method. I know you."

Reno sighed. This was getting nowhere, and if he needed anything it was fresh air. Then a cigarette to pollute that fresh air. "Y'know, you have to let this go... I don't know you. I've never known you. You must be mistaken. If I seem vaguely familiar, yeah, I was on the televisions and in the newspapers a while ago." He snorted and grinned. "I'll just conveniently forget the Mage Warrior crap and be on my way. Toodle-loo."

Genesis grit her teeth, an action of weariness, frustration, and a little bit of sadness. She could remember such fond childhood memories. She knew this was her Reno, Cosmo Canyon's Reno. But why didn't he remember?

Time... Yes, time would have to be a factor. It had been over twenty years since she had seen him. Maybe she was clinging to the past? Maybe he had just moved on, forgotten the easily forgotten. She could remember five years prior, the Meteor incident, knowing vaguely, hearing something about a Turk named Reno, wondering if it was him. When things got bad, the state of Midgar affairs worsened, she had read a paper and known – it was him. He was the man who had bravely defended the Sector Seven tower from collapse, tried to stop the terrorists but failed.

She remembered hearing otherwise. She didn't want to fathom it.

The picture was all she had to base her perception of him on. He had aged, he looked so much different. When last she knew him, he had been shorter than her, his red hair a softer shade, mussed, but not crazy. The Reno in the newspaper photograph was tall, his hair somewhere between wine and blood. His eyes were different, and yet the same. Something within told her, he was the one. But something else, a sense of detachment, hatred, pain. Cold, hard, green.

Emeralds. Wine. Blood. If only Genesis knew how right her images were. She wanted to know what had happened, and now her opportunity was walking out the door.

Reno stared at the girl from the corner of his eye. Maybe he'd been a little harsh with her. Maybe he should have broken from tradition, habit. Sugar coated his words. 'You're crazy' just didn't sound nice. But she was... Wasn't she? She seemed so sure of herself, but mage warriors didn't exist. That he knew.

Did he?

Reno remembered his childhood. Growing up in the slums of Midgar. No real family, moving from neighborhood to neighborhood with a whore of a mother and a father who beat them. He remembered finally breaking free at the age of fourteen, running away, living on the street for three years, being recruited. And no where in those memories did he remember a Genesis Atlantis.

Genesis Atlantis. Strange black and silver hair. Violet eyes. An accent unfamiliar to his ears. Even her name seemed exotic, different. He knew he'd remember her had he met her. And he didn't. There was no getting past that.

His hearing was picking up sounds he knew he shouldn't be able to physically hear. His vision was clearer, stronger, his sense of smell strangely accute.

Just what in the name of Ifrit was going on?

**Stay.**

Reno stopped in his tracks, inches from the exit. "...What?" His voice was barely above a whisper. That voice... it seemed so familiar, but he knew he had never heard it before.

**Stay where you are.**

He looked around wildly, hoping to find someone, whoever was speaking. Genesis sat in her seat, stirring her tea, her eyes downcast. She obviously didn't hear the voice.

"Who are you?" He had worked up the courage to ask.

**You will find out in due time.**

"Reno... who are you talking to?" Genesis' voice echoed across the room, confused. Yes, she obviously didn't hear the voice.

**Stay with the girl. She will show you the truth.**

Reno growled inaudibly. "The truth about what?" He was tired of this. Not ony was he hearing voices, but the voices were talking in riddles. Maybe he had spoken too soon. The girl's insanity must have rubbed off on him.

**You.**

He barely had a moment to think, to give a quizzical look to the nothingness that spoke, before a sharp pain stabbed beyond his eyes and a flash of white danced into his line of vision. He fell to his knees.

"Reno!" Genesis ran to his side.

He slumped forward into her arms, feeling the pain intensify, feeling himself dropping into an all too familiar darkness. "Gen..."

_The truth about my past... Gen... She seems so familiar..._

**She will show you...**

His eyelids felt heavy... so heavy. It was taking so much effort just to keep them open, aloft. He felt like his brain was shutting off, his senses clicking off one by one, his system going into stand by.

**...the path to the fulfillment of your destiny.**

_He will hear the voice of the planet... The truth shall be revealed..._

Torn manuscript shred.

_Darkness. The boy was terrified, confined, and more importantly sedated. They had made sure he had no means of escape, and despite his diminutive size, he was powerful, far more powerful than they had expected upon his capture._

_The boy had awoken to find himself suspended in a liquid filled tube, his arm hooked up to an IV, an oxygen mask tied around his face. Sensors were attached to his body, monitoring every movement and statistic. His small body was naked, all dignity and decency stripped from the pale flesh._

_The clicking of heels._

_A scrawny, spectacled man stepped forward into the room, an assistant to his right._

_"How's specimen 26 doing?"_

_"So I see you finally got one. Now all you need is a Cetra."_

_"Yes, yes. In due time. But for now I need to work with this one."_

_"A little small, don't you think?"_

_"Heh... but it's a powerful one, that it is. Incredibly powerful. We'll put a stop to that though. Soon enough. Tried to get its parents too, but they tried to stop us... A pity. But this one will be useful enough."_

_A grin._

_The professor known as Hojo noted the look of terror and sadness spreading across his specimen's face. And he _grinned.

_"Yes. We'll wipe everything out. But... it'll be quite useful to us once the experiments are complete. Quite useful indeed."_

_The boy glared at the professor, and for the first time in his young life, pure hatred flowed through his veins, threatening to boil over. And for the first time in his young life he tried to use everything he knew, everything he'd learned, and centuries of inherited skills to break free, to _kill.

_And nothing happened._

_Reno Charlemagne could do nothing but sit by and wait. Wait to be used, studied. Wait to have his memories torn from his psyche. Wait to be manipulated. Wait to find solace and breed loyalty to the company that kidnaped him, murdered his family, and killed off his sense of self._

_The figures left. A door closed. His eyelids dropped in sorrowful compliance._

_Darkness._

Reno gasped and bolted upright, his heart thudding loudly in his chest. His eyes almost bulged in fright and disbelief. It couldn't be...

Everything was coming back to him. His childhood mixing with false memories. He looked to Gen, and instead of seeing a stranger he could picture a young girl in a yellow dress playing tag.

He looked away. It was too much. Too much.

"Are you okay?" Her voice chimed over the screaming in his head, almost calming him. Almost.

Reno swallowed, trying to ignore the uncomfortable, almost painful dryness. How could he answer that question when he himself didn't know the answer? He felt like he had been living a lie for his entire life, but at the same time felt like he was losing it. Something felt damaged, cracked. He was being bombarded with memories, random memories.

"I'm not sure..."

_Had_ he been living a lie?

Who was Reno Charlemagne?

"I... don't know."


	4. The Forgotten

**Prophetic Fulfillment**  
_A Shinimegami Rena Valentine Production_

**Chapter 3  
The Forgotton**

_"So what is this power, anyway? I doubt I can fly and I don't see through your shirt so it's obvious that x-ray vision is definitely not a Mage Warrior skill."_ Reno

"I take it this is your secret shortcut to Cosmo Canyon?"

After a torturous night of confusion, restlessness and finally sleeping pills, Reno gave up on trying to find answers to the questions that were currently holding up residence in his mind. And, while on any other occasion he would have certainly turned to the bottle for his own version of liquid truth, he found that a little... impossible.

Not that Gen was against drinking. She just forbade it as a means for escape. Self righteous in Reno's book, but he had nowhere to go and he had been tired. A warm bed sounded much more cozy then pasing out in the wilderness again. And thus Reno found himself following the girl on her new quest -- something about scrolls and magic and heritage and all of that other crap that Reno really didn't care much about. That didn't stop him from being intrigued, however. The memories _had_ poured in, gushing forth at random intervals, confusing him but giving him hints as to the reality of his situation.

Dusty sandstone walls surrounded the trail, blocking the ocean view that he would have born witness to, should they have taken the "scenic route" -- the true trail to Cosmo Canyon - they're destination. But Gen had said that her way was quicker and Reno had a feeling that over the course of years, Gen had become even more stubborn and more set in her ways.

Though they _had_ been travelling for an hour -- going from the desert, to a grassy field and finally this rock-ridden trail. This high rock-ridden trail. Reno had never been too fond of heights, disliking helicopter rides, skyscrapers, and Da Chao. He got over it over the years, but riding a strange chocobo on this windy path made the fear blossom back into existence. He hadn't been too fond of chocobos either. They were never fond of him and often knocked him off. These two little facts made him even more uneasy, but Gen had assured him that Shaniyah was a good bird. She still hadn't let him down and for that he fed her extra greens. Looking at Kieran, the other gold chocobo, he snorted. Which of her birds wasn't prize winning? Wasn't... perfect?

Gen turned to him, her violet eyes covered by goggles once more -- she had explained something about her eyes being sensetive, taking in too much light because of the color of them... or something. When Gen started getting technical, Reno started mentally shutting down. Her voice cut through the red-head's brooding. "We're almost there. Don't worry... we're going in the right direction."

"Oh... okay."

Reno could have said something snappy or sarcastic, something to fire back of the slight hint of defensiveness in Gen's voice, but he wasn't in the most argumentative of moods. So many... thoughts were swirling through his head. Memories and facts and fictions and lies and truths... So his parents weren't his parents? They were dead... and his childhood, that was fake too... And he wasn't really born in the lower sectors of Midgar... He was Cosmanii?

And what was this about a Chosen One?

Reno didn't like any of it. As nice as the thought seemed, he didn't care to have a fake childhood, even if his so called "fake" one was shitty. He didn't want to think that all of his childhood up until his preteens was fake. He didn't want to wonder about all of the blood-tests and physical examinations and "Mako" treatments that Professor Hojo had done on him... He squinted, his mind mulling over everything, realizing that Rude had visited the good doctor far less than he had.

_Please tell me this is all a nightmare. That I got so fucking sloshed that I am _really_ out of it now..._

Most of all, he didn't even want to fathom what all of this about a Chosen One was. Reno, formerly of the Turks was not a saviour and never would be one. He was... a perverted, alcoholic asshole, currently with one too many screws loose. There was no way...

So entranced by his thoughts, he barely noticed the familiarity of the path as the beaten trail merged with the highway, leading to the front gate of Cosmo Canyon. Gen stopped in front of him, almost causing Shaniyah to bump into Kieran's tail-feathers. But Shaniyah was a good chocobo...

"Mistress Atlantis?" A young woman in her twenties walked up to Genesis, greeting her spear in hand.

"Yes, please call me Gen. I was here earlier, but I don't think we've met. I'm here to look over the scrolls again."

"Sure thing! I'm Ania, by the way." She smiled, then noticed the sullen man behind Gen. "And I see you've brought a guest with you. How delightful!"

"Yes, we're looking over them together. He's a bit curious about them as well."

"Isn't everybody?" Still smiling, Ania opened the inner gate, motioning for the pair to enter. "I'll tell Nanaki you've arrived. You know where to pen the chocobos."

Gen hopped off of her bird, grabbed her bag and led Kieran into the canyon, followed by Reno who hastily did the same. This was the first chocobo he had ridden successfully and he had a feeling that his lack of knowledge in this sort of thing made him look like a total idiot. This suspicion was furthered by Ania's girlish giggle at watching Reno nearly trip over a dangling stirrup. He glared at her halfway threateningly and followed the woman into the small town.

He found Gen standing beside a small, newly constructed chocobo pen, Kieran now within its confines. Penning up Shaniyah, he stared at her, watching her raven hair wafting in the breeze as she calmly surveyed the land. Reno had never been to the Canyon, never felt the need to visit. But now... staring at the reddish sandstone walls, the oranges and yellows of a reflecting sunset... he had to admit just how beautiful it was. Stunning.

He exited the pen, walking toward the girl.

"Does any of this seem familiar to you?" She turned to him, staring at him quizzically as she removed the goggles and placed them in her bag.

"I don't see why it should... I've never been..." He trailed off, remembering that he _should_ recognize it. Knowing that he was letting her down and for some off the wall reason, feeling bad about this. Still, he had to admit that something itched in the back of his mind. Something about this place illicited something. He just wasn't sure what.

Gen sighed and looked away, staring up at the top-most part of the Canyon city. "I'll explain everything in a moment... I need to go say hello to Nanaki."

"Nanaki?" Reno cocked an eyebrow. Somehow that sounded familiar. But he had never met a man by that name before.

She smiled. "Haven't you heard of him? He's famous and now he's training to be the elder... to take his grandfather's place."

Reno rubbed his chin thoughtfull, feeling ignorant but not really caring all too much. None of that explained why the name sounded so familiar.

"Genesis!"

"Nanaki!"

Looking up, two things startled Reno. First and foremost this Nanaki wasn't a man at all, but a large, red lion like creature running over on all fours. This Nanaki was large and well muscled, decked out in golden shackle bracelets around his ankles and feathers in his slowly developing mane. On the tip of his tail perched a reddish flame, blazing of its own accord. Almost as striking as his flaming tail was the creature's eye -- golden, the matching eye replaced by a large scar. And then there was the other thing that startled Reno, making him back up and nearly trip on the pebbled surface of the canyon grounds.

A huge tattoo lay upon his back leg. The number XIII.

_Holy Shit..._

Yes, Nanaki was also, and more commonly known as Red XIII. And Red XIII had a beef with Shinra. A big one. Reno wanted nothing more than to find a hole to crawl into and hide. But Reno hadn't really had the best of luck lately.

"YOU!" The creature snarled, animal like despite the intelligence that glimmered in his yellow eye.

"Uhm... hi?" Reno smiled politely, a hand up in a small wave. He backed up again. Reno had heard of the bite of Red XIII -- the many things it could tear apart and break... he just didn't want to experience it.

"...You... know him?" Gen looked between the two with the utmost of confusion.

"Of course I know him! How... Why would you bring him here? The atrocities that he's committed! He's the worst kind of scum! This man defiles the sacred grounds of Cosmo Canyon."

Reno hated this self righteous crap. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the pompous creature before him and suddenly he was rejuvenated with courage. "I was doing my job."

"Your job cost thousands of people their lives and decimated entire species."

He couldn't say anything to that, and instead dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands... backed up against a figurative wall. Nanaki snorted and turned away, his claws unsheathed in anger. He turned to Gen.

"Nanaki... this is a long story... A long and very strange one. See... Reno was a friend of mine when I was younger. He's one of the last Mage Warriors."

Nanaki laughed. "You're kidding me, right? That's impossible. Mage warriors are linked to the planet in such a way that one would never work... work for Shinra! That's ridiculous."

"I'm working on an explanation."

Nanaki walked away, moving back toward his grandfather's study. "It better be a good one! Mage Warrior? Him? Hah! Next you are going to say that you think he's the Chosen One!"

Gen looked away, embarrassed and halfway amused. Reno thrust his hands into his suit pocket, looking toward the Candle, sparkling in the light of the rising moon. "Score one for the furball," his voice rasped.

Gen took a sip of her martini and looked up icily to the doorway of the pub. She was alone in that building now, the bartender leaving her to her own devices as he went for an evening walk. For some reason the people of the Canyon were very polite and very trusting. Gen liked them, but knew that she could never trust people quite like they did... Being raised in the town made little difference. The world was just too harsh.

And Reno was late.

_Figures..._

After a few more sips, the door opened, blowing a cool breeze in, followed by the bartender and a jauntily walking Reno. He stopped the bartender, ordered a drink and then pulled a seat across from the girl. He smiled devilishly. "Martini, eh? Wouldn't've expected ya to order that."

She flashed a look of annoyance in her violet eyes. "You're twenty minutes late. I've already had two of these and a mint julep."

"Sorry babe."

She glared at him

. "I mean Miss Atlantis. Jeez... don't bite my head off... It's bad enough your good friend Meow Mix wants to do that for you..."

Gen turned back to look at the door, forcing down the smirk that threatened to invade her face.

His alcohol arrived at he took a sip of the amber liquid. "See. I'm not that bad. So... You were going to talk about stuff with me? He took a swig.

She stirred the drink... "Where do I begin..."

"How 'bout this place? Why should it be familiar? I'm getting these memories back kinda slow... We lived here, eh?"

She thought a moment, picking out the best way to explain thousands of years of history in the least amount of words. "See... my family and yours lived here. Our people are kind of scattered around the world right now. Some live in Icicle Village, some in Wutai. You can find them if you really look... We used to have our own village, back a few hundred years ago during another world crisis, but from what I've heard it was destroyed. The artistic renderings though..." She paused, staring down at her drink. "I wish I could have seen it when it really existed."

Reno hated to sound like an idiot, but the question still nagged him. "What crisis?"

Gen laughed. "Guess you didn't pay attention in school. World of Balance, World of Ruin ring a bell?" Reno didn't say anything so Gen continued. "There was this woman by the name of Terra. She was half human, half Esper.

Reno stared at her, confused.

"An Esper... it's a summon, really. Espers are guardian entities. They aren't human and rarely come onto our plane of existence. When we use a summoning materia, we are calling upon the power of the Esper to help us in battle and thus they lend us their strength. Espers are with us but at the same time are rarely physically near us. Terra was the daughter of the legendary Esper Maduin who fell in love with a human woman who had somehow managed to find her way into the Esper plane of existence... Terra was quite a special, powerful woman and some believe that she may be one of the first ancestors of the Cetra."

Reno nodded and took another sip from his drink. "Go on."

"Anyway -- the crisis. There was this man in a position of great power, and he was intent on stealing the power of the Espers for his own gain. The thing with borrowing Esper power is that it can't be used for evil -- They are guardians of the planet and thus will never turn against it. This man, this Kefka wanted to rule the world and he needed their power to do it. Much of this history is hazy at best... And I'm getting really sidetracked. Anyway, Thamasa was a small town of Mage Warriors -- human guardians of the planet. When Kefka gained control of the world and of the Espers it tore the world apart, creating the World of Ruin and destroying Thamasa. Even after Balance was restored they couldn't reinstate it. And so our kind drifted off... moving whereever they could. Over time many of our kind intermarried and much of our natural powers were lost."

"So wait... how much Mage Warrior is in you?" Reno stared at her, questioning.

"I'm not one hundred percent. My great grandparents on both sides were half. I still retain most of the powers however."

"What about me?" It pained him, having to ask this question of someone else. And though he had his doubts, he still desperately wanted to know. Just in case this was true at all.

"I'm having Nanaki look into the Charlemagne family records which were entombed within the chamber where we found the scrolls. I believe you may be fully Mage. A rarity. It only makes me even more curious how much power you must have... when you realize it all."

"So what is this power, anyway?" He had to admit that this was the one area he didn't have a problem with. Powers were always nifty, weren't they? "I doubt I can fly and I don't see through your shirt so it's obvious that x-ray vision is definitely not a Mage Warrior skill."

Gen rolled her eyes. "There are many, but there are three that tend to be universal. We have inherent magical abilities, meaning that we can cast a spell regaurdless of junctioned materia. Further, we can create our own spells, either through imagination or spell mixing. All we have to do is think of it, speak the incantation and its done. The magic is within us. Secondly, we have heightened senses -- Everything is stronger and clearer to us. Thirdly, we can, in some instances, hear the voice of the planet."

And suddenly everything made sense.

"Reno?"

"Ever since I was in the desert..." His voice was soft, hidden under his breath.

"What? What since the desert?" She looked at him pleading, wanting to know what he was thinking about.

"When I was in the desert I heard something -- a shreik. And it hurt. When I came too, I was at your place and everything was different."

"Different?"

"Different, but yet so... right." He closed his eyes, remembering the day before. "I could... smell the peppermint in your tea, the bananas in your kitchen, your shampoo... I could hear birds rustling in trees outside. I could see in the dark. I could... fuck... it makes sense." He stood up, the chair falling against the table behind him as he went to exit the bar.

"Reno!" She followed him and grabbed his arm.

"Don't you get it? I don't _want_ any of this. None of it. It can't be me." He almost looked frantic. Terrified, like a small child lost in the woods.

"Even Aeris was a poor flower girl in the slums..."

He snorted and looked to the tile beneath his feet, remembering everything he had pondered earlier at the gates. "...And I heard the planet... it took me away... showed me why my senses were fucked up. Why I can't remember anything." He sat down on another chair and raked his hand through crimson strands of hair.

"That vision?" She blinked. He wouldn't tell her about it, getting downright snappish when she insisted.

"A young boy..." He gripped the side of the table and gritted his teeth as new information filtered its way into his brain. "Just moved to Mideel... only to be... taken."

"...What?" _No..._ This... couldn't be the way it had happened to him. But she had a feeling that it was going to get worse.

"Professor Hojo. And he poked and he prodded and he fucked with my DNA." He scratched idly at his left forearm, knowing the scars from countless injections lay underneath the fabric. "And every year I would get a new injection."

A flash of that vision again.

The professor's voice.

_"Suppressors."_

"Suppressors... to counteract my... powers?" He leaned his forehead against a hand. Gen stared at him aghast. She didn't think that such a thing could exist.

"What happened to your parents?" The question sounded stupid to her ears. It was obvious what had happened.

"They tried to bust me out, but died."

She looked away. "I'm sorry."

Reno laughed, the sound harsh like sandpaper. "It's okay. I don't remember them. But... I think I was really close to my mom."

They were silent a moment, neither knowing what to say to the other. Reno had just divulged so much and yet his explanation was still hole ridden. Still...

"It makes sense."

Reno was silent, taking in what Gen had just said, knowing he had been thinking that same small sentence. The one that seemed to seal his fate.

"I had no idea... I just remember your parents moving out. I think you were eight. Ramuh... I didn't even know where you moved, so I could never write to you or beg to visit." She smiled, remembering herself, pigtails and bows. "I cried for days... you were my only friend."

Reno smiled as the same bit of memory flashed within his mind. A young Genesis. Even then she had that crazy hair color.

"We have a lot of catching up to do."

And suddenly that smile was on his face full blast. He grinned. "Catching up, eh? Of what sort?"

Gen threw a napkin at him. "I take it back anything nice I said about you. Charlemagne, you are incorrigible."

"I try."

And she knew he did. She could see, in the inner depths of his eyes, his torturous pain. The fear and confusion. And yet he masked it, hid it under a cheap, perverted laugh. He most definitely did try and it was obvious that his facade always succeeded.

A/N : Hey cool! I wrote some more! Haha!


	5. A Call Refused

**Prophetic Fulfillment**  
_A Shinimegami Rena Valentine Production_

**Chapter 4  
A Call Refused**

Another night, and Reno couldn't sleep. This was getting ridiculous.

The night before he hadn't been able to sleep because of the memories, the confusion. Now Reno was just as confused but it was his alleged "powers" that kept him awake. The sheer bizarrity that was being able to see in the dark. It was just unnatural. He had grown accustomed to sleeping in pitch black darkness -- the boredom of not being able to see let his mind wander until he drifted away. But now? Now his eyes picked up the small traces of light emanating from the Canyon -- quite a feat since electricity was scarce in the town. The only real light that would be coming in would have shone from the full moon... and the Candle. And so Reno sat in this false visibility, his cat-like vision making out a chair, plainly seeing a table. He could even read the words on the newspaper placed on his nightstand. Should he even bother _trying_ to get any rest?

_Feelin' like a damned insomniac..._

He turned, raggedly, over onto his side, staring at the small digital clock face that glared at him from across the room, glowing bright green, helping illuminate the room even further. He could cover it and that might darken the room, at least a little... but what was the point? He read the face -- 4:02 AM. How long had Reno laid there in a futile attempt to sleep? More importantly, how long would he remain? He sighed at the notion of spending another four to five hours in that same state. Sighed at the frustration. Sighed at the added stress in his life -- as if he needed it. Sighed at the feeling of powerlessness that had overtaken him. Sighed at the inevitability of it all.

_I don't need this._

Reno leaned against the pillow, rubbing his arms slightly against the cold. The wind was cool and dry outside. He knew he'd be feeling that later, knew that, for as young as he was, his joints weren't too fond of this kind of weather... But he didn't move.

Indecision.

In truth, he was so used to doing what he was told, blindly following another's orders. It had been how many years since the fall of Shinra? He cracked his neck into place as he threw his legs off the side of the bed. Four? Another crack. No... five. Five years on his own and thing still hadn't gotten easier. Would they ever?

He remembered the fall... that fateful day when the entity known as Shinra faded into the annuls of history. Disappeared creating only a scar in the face of time. Something that people could look at in books, years into the future, and shun. He remembered being set free and cast out. He had been offered a job once Reeve took over the power industry of Midgar, salvaging the remaining scraps of a once proud, but tainted legacy.

Reeve Daniels. Now there was a piece of work if Reno was concerned. Between his lacking abilities as a spy and the ever famous stuffed android he toted around, Reno didn't know what to think. Sure he admired the man -- admired the way he stood up for his beliefs, despite the company's vital requirement for a sense of loyalty. Take a job from Reeve Daniels, former AVALANCHE spy? The answer was quite easy to come up with.

_Maybe I should have..._

Then again, Reno knew what they thought of him there. What they thought of him everywhere. Even without the threat of Shinra. Even without the bi-monthly paychecks telling him what to do, he was a Turk. And it seemed to him that that would never end. And who in their right mind would ever trust a Turk? The answer was plainly evident by Nanaki's response to seeing him. No one would. No one _could._

_I'd only be kidding myself if I worked there._

Sighing, he pulled himself from the bed and stared out the window, then proceeded to get up, grabbing a white shirt from a neary chair and putting it on solomnly. He ignored the buttons, letting it hang on his shoulders, swaying in the soft breeze. It was colder by the window, and leaning against the frame he could feel the stirrings of pain creeping over his right shoulder -- the dull throb of a body part torn to bits and barely reconstructed after four different surgeries. Sector Seven.

He looked up to the stars twinkling coldly down upon him, stars that almost seemed to disapprove of him looking at them. If anything sealed his fate, his future, it was Sector Seven. Kidnapping the Cetra - that wasn't so bad. Fighting with AVALANCHE wasn't horrible either. It was causing the plate's collase that triggered the mistrust and the hatred he presently bore. Because, even though it was covered up, the fame and heroic deeds of the terrorist organization made it very clear that the red-headed Turk _was_, in fact, the perpetrator. A truth that was slowly spreading across the world. No matter where he went, there was always someone who would ignore him, who would refuse him service, spit on him, or verbally abuse him. And, no matter how much he thought it didn't bother him, no matter how used to scorn he thought he was, it still built up. It still proved to be a nuisance. And somewhere in the depths of his psyche, he was afraid that it would be his end.

Rude and Elena. Sure, they were Turks too, but they weren't anywhere nearly as bad off as he was. And for that he was glad because they were all he had left and to see them in the same predicament as he? Reno didn't want to fathom it. Both received high status positions within the new company -- sort of a mix between intelligence and security. People were okay with them. Maybe it was because Elena had been the rookie and the least recognizable. Maybe it was because Rude was less confrontational, made less of a ruckus than his fiery haired best friend. Maybe it was because neither or them were quite as seemingly cold hearted as Reno. Whichever the reason, they didn't get the brunt of the heat that their friend got.

_That's good for them, though... they desearve it..._

And he really did truly believe it. That's why he hadn't taken the job. He didn't want to spoil any of it for them. They were getting their lives back on track and for him to be there... no. They were better off without him...

He raked his fingers through his hair, absentmindedly, looking at the still unpacked bag and smiled sadly.

Wasn't everyone?

_Deep within the foggy sheen of light, a woman._

_She had an air of beauty about her, but something was innately ugly, innately wrong about her. Something disgusting that caused the bile to rise up in Genesis' stomach. It made her feel raw. Dirty._

_The woman smiled, standing in front of something, that Gen couldn't make out. The woman pointed a finger and began chanting in a foreign tongue that seemed vaguely famililar._

_Ignis_

_Aqua_

_Attonbitus_

_Terra_

_Sanctus_

_The woman smiled again, her eyes almost seeming to glow amber, her dark hair floating in an upcurent of breeze. And then she..._

Genesis jumped, startled and bewildered, gasping for air. She was still in bed, still under the soft covers. It had all been a dream

But why? What was this about? Who was this woman?

An omen? She looked out the window, still gasping softly, regaining her composure as quickly as she could. There was no way she could sleep after that. And then she saw him, standing alone out there, his clothing and hair ruffling in the soft breeze. And even if she didn't know how to explain what she had just seen. Even if she wouldn't know what to talk about, she had a feeling that she should be down there with him.

_"A woman of midnight hair and striking features. She will prove to be an important ally in the battle agai..."_

Torn Manuscript Snippet

Rocky sand and gravel crackled underfoot as he made his way up to the Cosmo Candle, marvelling at the way the flames burned in the night sky, lighting up the town square around him. They danced as they had for years upon years, as long as anyone could remember. He sat and stared, his eyes ablaze, contemplating his next course of action, though knowing what he intended to do.

_I shouldn't be here.._ He sighed again and looked up to the stars -- two actions he noticed he had been doing a little too often. None of this was like himself, but ever since that night in the desert everything had changed and he was coping -- trying his hardest to stay Reno no matter what happened. The stars mocked him, making him feel small and stupid. Like he didn't matter. And he knew they were right. But he still admired them, trying to trace the patterns of constellations he couldn't remember the names of. How could anyplace as beautiful as Cosmo Canyon exist?

_Red's right... I am defiling this place..._

The had gone to his room early the night before, stared at his ceiling from his spot on the bed, listening to the loud cheers, the sheer happiness of the Cosmanii and the foreign scholars. Yes, they all believed what Gen said now. The Chosen One was found at last. Obviously none of them figured what that meant. None of them could realize what it _meant_ to be a Chosen One. And why should they? All they knew was that he would save them all. Whatever that entailed. Reno didn't know either, he had to admit. He just knew that it meant responsibility. He could feel a two ton weight on his shoulders. His own world had falled apart at the seams. Why should he care if theirs did too? Couldn't someone else sign up to play hero for the day? He was through with the spotlight.

Reno scowled. He would rather no one depend on him anymore. He just let down everyone who did and he couldn't go through that anymore. He reached to his shoulder, kneading the tired, protesting muscles, feeling scarred flesh with his fingertips. A few bullet holes and stab wounds compliments of Tifa Lockheart and Cloud Strife. He gritted his teeth, massaging over the scars left over from incisions, remembering being put back together like a rag doll that had a fateful meeting with an angry dog.

"Reno?"

His eyes snapped open as he felt a soft hand over his own. She looked down on him, smiling in a white silken robe, her hair pulled back in a braid. "Is anything wrong?"

He looked back to the Candle, trying his hardest to plaster a different emotion on his weary face. But he was so tired. "No... just." He turned back to her, watching her lower her body next to him. "Nothing..."

"Okay then." She didn't believe him. He knew that she had seen the bag on the other side of him. She was just stalling. Playing dumb. "If anything's bothering you..."

"I know..." And just like that, silence. And then... truth. "I can't do this anymore..."

"Reno..." She paused. "Everyone's so happy... I know I'm right. It's you. When we saw mentioning of a disaster, no one knew what to do. It looked so grave, but so vague at the same time. But now... you're here. You're kind of a prophetic fulfillment. You..."

"Then it's too bad I'm not. You're... I don't know how, but you're wrong."

"Excuse me?" She spat the words at him.

"We both know it. You just don't want to admit it."

"Reno..."

"Don't Reno me. Don't bat your eyes, don't mention the past, don't DO anything. I'm no chosen one. I'm a murderer. A cold blooded killer. I"m irresponsible, undependable, and I damn well fucking don't care!"

"But..."

"I know what I am, Gen. No past, no future. You want Chosen One material? Go to the Seventh Heaven bar in Nibelheim. Ask the owner for Cloud Strife." He looked down to his bag, seething, then added with biting malice. "There's a _real_ hero."

"You're... But I know..." She was on the verge of angry, hot tears.

"You don't know _shit_ Genesis. Get your head out of this fantasy. You _knew_ me. You don't _know_ me. You don't _want_ to know me." He stood quickly and she followed him up. "It's so easy for you to do this. You walk into my life and you fucking ruin it. I was fine. Just fucking swell. It is so _fucking_ easy. Just pick me out of a crowd and have me rescue you. Rescue you all. Well you know what? I don't. Fucking. Care. You could all die, all get killed by whatever is coming and you know what else? More power to it." He breathed.

She bit back a sob that threatened to rack her body and slapped him across the face.

Reno's eyes narrowed, faintly glowing in the dancing embers of the Candle. "That the best you can do?"

"Bastard." She growled, animal like as she straightened herself to her full height. "How dare you?" This wasn't like him at all. Or was it? Doubt. Maybe Reno was right. He was a stranger to her now. It had been so long... But still, he had to be human, somewhere in there.

He looked at her blankly. She growled again, anger getting the best of her. "You don't care, do you?"

Still no response, his face never wavering. Common sense told him that he had gone too far. But he was angry. Furious. He knew he didn't mean any of it, but he had to push her further. Now he just wanted her to hate him. Wanted her to lose faith. Wanted her to be wrong. She was beautiful, smart, and didn't need him in her life.

He buttoned his shirt a little over halfway up and shouldered his blue coat. "A pity. You would have been a good fuck."

And then she literally saw red as she reared back and punched him square in the jaw. And with that, she turned around and ran back into the inn.

Alone, Reno raised a hand to his jaw, popped it back into place and winced.

_What luck... she didn't break anything..._

Turning away from the Candle, he spit, attempting to dispel the taste of blood from his mouth.

"Didn't know you had it in you, Gen..." He reached for his bag, but was stopped in mid grab by the growl of a voice behind him.

"There are many things which you do not know."

He closed his eyes and sighed in annoyance. Just when he thought he could escape in peace. "Listen, Furball. I don't need any shit from you either."

Nanaki padded next to him and sat on his haunches. "You may call me Nanaki or Red XIII if you so desire. Not Furball. Not Hairy. Not Meow Mix. Have I made myself clear?"

Reno looked over the cat, noting the gleam of firelight reflecting off his teeth. "Fine..." He grabbed his bag. "Doesn't matter much, though. I"m not staying any longer."

"I see." Nanaki looked over to the candle. "So was that your way of saying farewell to an old friend? Is that what you do to everyone who cares for you?"

He shouldered the bag, wincing as his sore shoulder protested. The pain made him think that it might rain at some point soon, which was just what he needed. "It had to be said. It doesn't matter if I wanted to..."

Nanaki was silent. It suddenly made sense, Reno's tactic. Or at least he thought it did. The cruel words seemed to be a bit much even for the red-head. Even if Nanaki hated Reno, he had to admit that he wouldn't stoop to the words he said. He had to give him credit. Reno wanted out. It was plainly obvious.

"Don't tell me you bought Gen's load of crap. I always assumed you were the one with sense in AVALANCHE."

"I have no opinion on that matter. I personally do not like you all that much, though you were redeeming yourself for a little while there. Still, I find it hard to believe you are the chosen one. But yet, you fit the profile far too well for Gen to be mistaken.

"Stranger things have happened, Fur... Nanaki."

"Indeed they have."

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing ya. "Reno turned to leave.

"Wait!" Nanaki ran in front of him, his eyes gleaming in the Candle-light. "I have something for you."

"Why Red, I didn't know you cared."

Nanaki rolled his eye in frustration, a very human motion. "It is yours, though I do have my qualms with giving this over to you. We found it amidst the old scrolls and possessions of the Mage Warrior families in Cosmo Canyon." He reached into a satchel that was strapped to him an pulled out a small package.

Reno opened it and stared at a small emerald colored stone pendant attached to a silver chain. "What is it?" The gem glittered.

"We do not know. It appears to be some sort of materia, but even that we are not sure of. We speculate it has been passed down the Charlemagne family line... There are more items there, but I suppose you won't be here..."

Reno was silent as he placed the chain around his neck, letting it hang. Nanaki looked him over... the way his eyes matched the color of the stone... they were amazingly similar. He shook his head. " I don't know why your parents would leave something so importent here..."

Reno thought a moment, fingering the stone. Could they have known something would happen? "Maybe they thought it would be safer here?"

"Perhaps."

He coughed nervously and turned away, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Thanks, Nanaki." The words forced their way out as he walked toward the exit. He stopped and turned around. "Listen... Tell Genesis I'm sorry for everything..."

Nanaki sat and nodded. "WIll do, Reno."

"... and... if anything happens. Look out for her. I know she can take care of herself, but..."

"I understand, Reno. Farewell."

Reno walked through the gates, allowing them to close behind him, leaving an empty courtyard glimmering with the first rays of sunlight, and Nanaki in the midst of it all. He turned around, passing the flame, and reflecting on Reno's words, on the saddened look in his eyes, and realizing that the former Turk wasn't nearly as bad as he had thought...

A/N: I'm quite shocked as well... another one. I'm just a writing maching _this_ Spring break!


	6. Rediscovering

**

Prophetic Fulfillment

**

A Shinimegami Rena Valentine Production

Chapter 5

Rediscovering

"What. Happened?" 

"Genesis..." Nanaki cautiously approached the woman. It was apparent. She knew that Reno was no longer anywhere within the vicinity of the canyon. 

"You let him leave?!" She heaved a frustrated sigh as she tore her fingers through her dark hair. Her eyes were blazing a shade of violet Nanaki wasn't sure he'd ever seen. "I cannot _believe_ you let him leave!" 

"Genesis, please calm down. He wished to leave. There was no stopping him." 

She clenched her fists, and her teeth in anger. _No stopping... I bet an ultima spell would stop him..._ About to voice her opinion, she was cut off once more. 

Nanaki sat down, his tail whishing back and forth in an almost rhythmic motion. "Would you like to know why he left, Genesis?" 

She looked up, startled. "Huh?" 

"Do you wish to know the cause of his leaving?" Gen nodded, silently, allowing for Nanaki to continue. "I will try to be unbiased, though it is hard. I do not know if I can believe that a man such as Reno of the Turks could be the chosen one, however I do not see how he can not be. It is contradictory. Such is the Planet. 

"I will take the standpoint, that Reno is a man whom I have never met. In the past week, if my memory serves me correctly, he has learned that he was a specimen for Hojo, that the entirety of his childhood memories were false, that he's a Mage Warrior, and on top of that, the Chosen One." 

"Are you saying this is _my_ fault?" She looked at him incredulous. 

"I do not wish to put the blame on anyone. However, you have put a lot of pressure on him. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he feels a great deal of guilt about his past... and has no faith in himself for the future." 

~*~

"You've reached Rude Davenport. I'm not here right now, but leave a message and I'll try to get back to you soon." BEEP 

Reno sighed inwardly. "Hey, Rude... just calling to see how you all are doing. So... whenever you're not busy... just give me a call." He pocketed his PHS in frustration. Yet another failed attempt to catch his best friend. 

_Where to go... Where to go... Wutai? Too far away... Costa Del Sol? Too warm. Mideel? Still being rebuilt. Nibelheim?_

Reno stuffed his hands in his pockets, a smile forming. "Why not?" 

~*~

_I can't believe he left like that._

Gen stood hunched over her inn bed, stuffing clothes into her bag. She grabbed her black gloves, and walked out of the room, oblivious to the stares around her, and the questions concerning the whereabouts of the "Chosen One." 

She had a few questions of her own. 

Gen met Nanaki at the front entrance of Cosmo Canyon, where her chocobo, Kieran, waited for her. 

"Did he mention anything? Hint at where he was going?" 

Nanaki shook his head. "No. Not a thing." 

She attached her bag to the chocobo saddle. "Damn bastard." 

"He said one thing, Genesis." 

"What's that?" 

"He's sorry. For everything." 

~*~

"What the HELL do you think you're doing here?!" 

Reno calmly looked into the burgundy eyes of Tifa Lockheart. He would have been afraid, should have been afraid, but he was beyond that. Reno no longer cared what was to happen to him. 

Instead he gazed cooly at Tifa. "I was hoping for better service, that's all." 

Tifa growled, and grabbed Reno by the collar of his already damaged white shirt, pulling him face to face, eye to eye. "I want you out of here, now." 

He grinned, taking this opportunity, this sudden moment of closeness, and planted a passionate kiss on the furious, yet enticing lips of the ex Avalanche member. 

_Always wanted to do that..._

Tifa looked up, speechless, and gasping for air. Silence filled the room as tension built. Then, Tifa pulled herself up over the bar table and punched Reno in the eye, sending him reeling off the stool. 

"Christ, Lockheart. I've already taken a beating from the latest woman in my life." He rubbed his eye, tenderly, feeling the flesh beginning to puff up. _I'm gonna have a bruise there..._

"Get. Out. Of. My. Bar." Tifa was nearly screaming, angry beyond compare. 

Reno straightened up, and once again sat on the bar stool. "I would, but you still owe me for that kiss. And, I'm just willing to throw in double the amount of gil it would take to get myself real wasted. So if you wouldn't mind fetching me that vodka I asked for..." 

Tifa looked at Reno in disbelief. She couldn't kill him... that would lower her to his level, a place she'd rather not venture. Stifling a growl, she turned away, towards the shelves of alcoholic beverages. She hated to wonder what, exactly, was his reason for wanting to get so drunk. 

But she couldn't help herself. 

"Glass or bottle?" 

He seemed to ponder a moment, then nodded slowly. "Bottle. Definitely." 

She grabbed the unopened bottle and handed it to him. "Good quality. 100 gil. But..." 

"Yeah. I have the money." 

She sat down, staring holes into Reno as he downed several gulps of vodka. 

"Slow night, eh?" 

She looked away, still annoyed. "Yeah." 

"Nights always like this? I heard you guys make pretty good business." 

"Yes. We do, Reno." 

"So..." 

"Enough small talk Reno. Just get drunk and leave already. Why are you here in the first place, anyway? What did you do this time?" 

The glass vodka bottle landed on the bar table with a thunk. "Why do you automatically assume that I did something?" 

"Because you always DO do something!" 

"Calm it, Lockheart. I didn't do nuttin'" 

"Then why are you here?" Tifa had to admit. She was intrigued. Beyond intrigued. 

Reno paused for a moment, then smiled. "Let's just say I have something in common with Cloud." He glanced at Tifa and grinned a slightly lecherous grin. "Maybe more than one thing..." 

Tifa rolled her eyes, but allowed Reno to continue. 

He took another gulp of the vodka, finishing off the bottle. If there was one thing that Reno was good at, beside his former job, it was handling liquor. "There's a lot more to Reno Alec Charlemagne than you would guess." 

"How are you like Cloud?" Tifa cut him off. She wanted to know, needed to know. 

"You want to know how someone like me is anything like your dear, heroic Cloud Strife? That boy has more screws loose than my rickety old car." 

She growled audibly. "He has an excuse. A damn good one. What's yours?" 

He stood up suddenly, emerald meeting burgundy once more. "I wish I understood it half as well as Cloud understands what happened to him." 

"What? What do you mean?" 

"I don't know." Reno dug through his jacket pocket, pulling out his wallet. He laughed softly, speaking more to himself than Tifa. "I don't know who I am... what I am anymore!" He counted out two hundred and fifty gil and slammed it onto the wooden table. "I mean... One second I'm Reno, the Turk. Hated by all, including himself!" 

"Wha..." 

"...Then, wham! I pass out in the desert, meet a strange woman who's creepy like Sephiroth, sexy like you, and talks like Nanaki! And there goes my entire fucking world!" 

"So this is all about a woman?" Tifa looked at him, an eyebrow raised in confusion. 

Reno chuckled softly, his laughs dying down. "No... this is about a guy who wakes up, different. This is about a guy who starts hearing freakish voices claiming to be the Planet, of all things. This is about a guy who finds out that his entire life is a lie in one fateful vision. This is about a guy who's suddenly thrown the role of savior to an entire civilization. THAT is what this is all about." He looked at her, shocked and surprised. "Why did I tell you all this?" 

Tifa sat back down on her stool. She didn't know, and he obviously didn't either. 

"I mean... I know I came here because you serve the best drinks..." He rubbed his forehead, feeling a migraine coming along. "Why?" He shook his head. "Anyway... here's double the amount for the vodka... fifty for being a pain in the ass." He turned to leave, knowing she probably still had her mouth hanging open in questioning and disbelief. 

He turned back to her, noting that his assumption was correct. "By the way... for what it's worth... I'm sorry for the shit I pulled five years ago. You'll never know how sorry..." 

Tifa watched the door close in silence, then looked down to her gloved hands. The hands of a warrior who had also committed atrocities, despite her good intentions. 

"I may not like you, Reno... but I forgive you." 

~*~

"Nibelheim?" 

Nanaki sat in his room, wearing his rigged up PHS headset to relay the news. Tifa had called him fifteen minutes earlier, asking about the ex-Turk. Maybe this was the information, the break in their current streak of bad luck. "My friend, Tifa Lockheart called, and said that she had served him in her bar." 

Gen's voice crackled over the other end. "Let me guess... the Seventh Heaven?" 

"Yes." 

"Okay, I'm about an hour away from there. I'll call you if I find out anything. Have the scrolls ready. He needs to see them." 

"Good luck, Gen." 

"Thanks... I'll need it." 

Nanaki awaited the beep signaling the end of the phone conversation. It had been a long day. A very long day. He sighed as he removed the headset, and headed over to the large wooden box, holding the ancient scrolls within it. They were ready. They'd been ready for hundreds of years. 

He jumped onto his bed and laid down. It had definitely been a long day. 

~*~

_Where am I now?_

Reno surveyed the terrain. Grass, grass, and more grass. He sighed and looked to the stars. 

_Well, if that's the North Star... then I'm heading to... Rocket Town?_

He shrugged. Why not? If he'd already been nearly killed by Tifa Lockheart, than surviving in Rocket Town wouldn't be that hard. Especially if he just happened to not run into the infamous captain. 

A strange growl shook him out of his thoughtfulness. Reno turned to his right, dropping the bag next to him. 

"Shit..." 

Green, with the appearance of a hungry brussel sprout. 

Of all the creatures in the world, it had to be a Marlboro. 

~*~

It was five minutes after one o' clock when Genesis finally arrived at the Seventh Heaven bar in Nibelheim. 

_Well, it's still open._ She thought smugly as she noted the sign on the door and entered the building. A blond man stood behind the counter, apparently counting the day's earnings. He looked up at her and smiled, his eyes glowing a strange shade of blue, startling her into silence. 

"I'm sorry, we're closing." 

"Oh... Well, I'm not exactly here as a customer." She fumbled for words, still stunned by his eyes. "I'm here to speak with a Tifa Lockheart?" 

"Okay, just a moment Miss..." 

"Atlantis. Genesis Atlantis." 

~*~

Reno took an instinctive step back as he eyed the creature warily. 

_This shouldn't be that bad. I'll just..._ He reached for the small holster he used to wear on his side, hoping to be met with the familiar sleek handle of his electro-magnetic rod. Instead he grasped at thin air. 

Reno mentally kicked himself. _Why the hell did I put it in my bag? Am I asking for it _that _much?_

The creature lunged, screeching a sound that shook Reno to the core as he dug, furiously, through his bag. He looked forward, to see the once clear air filling with a hazy cloud of poisonous gas as the Marlboro unleashed its vile breath attack. Stumbling over his feet, he felt the gas overtake him, burning his eyes and choking his lungs. 

The Marlboro had Reno right where it wanted him. It watched, calmly, as its prey blindly fought to rise up from the ground, clutching a mid level fire materia, struggling to shout out the incantation. 

Reno coughed, trying to clear his throat of the gas. This was worse than any silence spell he'd been put under. Far worse. The air was clear of the creature's breath, but he could still barely make out the shape of the Marlboro through his temporary blindness. 

**_Use Ultima..._**

What? 

**Use it...**

He fell to his knees as the creature attacked once more, using his Sound Wave. He held his head, weakly, desperately. _I don't have that materia... I can't... I can't do anything... _

**You can. The power is there.**

The Marlboro saw its chance and lunged in for the kill, but stopped suddenly in its tracks. Something was different. Unnatural. Its prey rose, slowly to its feet, its eyes closed. Fear no longer lingered strongly in the air. The Marlboro backed up, sensing oncoming danger. 

Reno opened his eyes, focusing as best as possible toward the creature in front of him. He opened his mouth, taking a quick gasp of breath, and through his silenced state uttered one word. 

"Ultima." 

The spell encapsulated the Marlboro, exploding and burning up around the dying and frightened creature. The power of a spell magnified at least ten fold. It screamed, cried out, knowing that it would not survive this attack. 

The last glimpse it caught was the furious gaze of Reno Charlemagne. 

The _glowing_ furious gaze of Reno Charlemagne. 

The spell cleared, leaving the charred remains of the Marlboro, smoking and twitching. Reno doubled over in pain and fell to his side, his entire being throbbing with a pain he had never felt before. He shook, weakly, feeling the last remaining ounce of strength seep out of him. Unconsciousness slowly began to set in, the darkness blanketing, comforting his tired body 

"Gen..." 

~*~

"So you're friends with Nanaki? How did you meet him?" Tifa and Cloud both sat across from Gen in their now abandoned bar. It was obvious how intrigued Tifa seemed, from the way she sat to the gleam in her burgundy eyes. 

Gen took a sip of her martini. "I actually grew up in Cosmo Canyon. I don't remember him being there when I was small, and I moved away when I was a little older. I met him a week or so ago to go over the relics and history of my people." 

Cloud leaned forward, a curious smile playing upon his face. "Your people? You're not a Cetra, by any chance, are you?" 

Gen smiled, sadly. "No... I'm sorry. It appears that all assumptions were correct. The Cetra are gone. I on the other hand, am one of the last Mage Warriors." 

"Mage Warrior?" Tifa questioned. 

"Yes. We are a race with inherent magical powers. It's hard to explain exactly what we do... why we're here. I myself don't necessarily understand it all. 

"When I visited Cosmo Canyon, met Nanaki, he was rather excited. The elders had just uncovered a closed off section of the Canyon which held several valuables related to several Warrior families. Two of which were the family of Atlantis, my family, and another. 

The family of Charlemagne." 

"Wait, wait, wait... You don't mean... I mean, there have to be plenty of Charlemagne's out there in the world." Tifa held the bridge of her nose, wearily. 

"There is only one Reno Charlemagne. As there is only one Chosen One." 

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" 

"I am not making this up, the scrolls prophesies that..." Gen doubled over in pain, grasping her forehead. Something was wrong. A flash of a field. A dead creature. A body lying on the ground. A voice... 

_"Gen..."_

She opened her eyes and shook her head, dismissed the pain as quickly as possible, and looked up to see the worried faces of Cloud and Tifa. 

Tifa spoke up, out of the silence. "Are you okay? What happened?" 

Gen rubbed the side of her head. "I saw him." She rose unsteadily to her feet, nearly falling into the arms of Cloud. 

"Who? What was that?" 

"A vision... Reno... Something happened. He's hurt..." 

Tifa walked to Cloud's side. "How do you know?" 

"He... He called out to me." 

_Reno..._

Everything faded to black. 

~*~

_"His power will awaken from its slumber..."_

~Manuscript piece of a larger whole 

~*~

A/N: So finishes another chapter, and perhaps the longest one I've written yet. They all seem to get longer as they go along. ^_^ Strange phenomena. 

Quite obviously, Gen likes her Martinis. Just an amusing little observation I've made concerning her. I'm working on a crappy fanart of her, to get some idea of what she looks like. Once I get to my old computer at school, I'll be able to color it in. I have no talent, but I like to pretend. ^_~ 

I've never mentioned it, but I imagine her as having a slightly upper english accent. Very eduacated sounding. Seems to go with her character a bit. 

Please, tell me what you think. C&C makes me happy, as long as its polite. I'll try to make another chapter appear as soon as possible. 


	7. Lost

**Prophetic Fulfillment**

**A Shinimegami Rena Valentine Production**

**Chapter 6**

Lost

Darkness. An inky blackness stretching for an eternity. Never ending. Silence encapsulating, a silence that one can almost hear, drowning out all semblance of reason. All thoughts. Nothingness. 

Loneliness. 

A great void. Reno was trapped within the confines of a great void. 

And he'd never been too fond of voids. 

"Hello?" 

His voice echoed through the vast stretches of nothingness, the returning vocal waves sounding strange to his ears. It belied the tough visage he hoped to grasp. It couldn't be his voice. 

"Is anyone here?" 

No response. No response of any kind. 

"Anyone?" 

_Am I all alone?_

~*~

Tifa looked at the young woman, worry clearly discernible in the burgundy depths of her eyes. What could have triggered such an attack? She hadn't seen anyone fall like that. Gen seemed to be in perfect health. 

"What happened?" 

Genesis rose to her feet as carefully as possible. She was obviously very woozy and slightly dizzy as she attempted a response. 

"I saw him..." Her voice was soft and tinged with pain and worry. 

"Who? What was that?" 

"A vision... Reno... Something's happened. He's hurt." She leant against Cloud for support. 

But, how? Tifa was at a loss. Something strange was going on... Something supernatural. After everything she and her friends had gone through, she should have been used to strange things like this by now, but still... "How do you know?" 

Gen looked up, her eyes meeting Tifa's. Amethyst eyes nearly as intriguing as Vincent's ruby tinted gaze. Something within her eyes told Tifa to trust her. 

Pain. Sorrow. Fear. Hope. 

"He... He called out to me." 

Tifa continued to stare at Gen, stifling a gasp as her amethyst eyes rolled in the back of her head as she fell unconscious. 

"Genesis?" Cloud grabbed for her, catching her in midfall. The woman moaned softly as her full weight fell upon Cloud's embrace. He picked her up in one swift movement, and looked to Tifa. 

"This can't be good." 

~*~

"She just passed out like that?" 

Nanaki sat at his grandfather's desk, once again wearing his PHS headphones, and speaking to Tifa. She had called him, worried over the state of the woman who had passed out in her bar. 

"What are her symptoms?" 

"She's delirious. Feverish. Unresponsive." 

Nanaki nodded silently. This wasn't good at all. 

"I'm going to call Cid, Tifa. I want Genesis here as soon as possible, but first I need to have Cid scope out the area. We need to find Reno as well." 

"We'll be waiting. Don't worry Red. We'll take care of her." 

"I know." Nanaki sighed as he hung up and began dialing Cid's number. 

_It isn't just Genesis I'm worried about..._

~*~

"@$#%&!" Cid eloquently yelled into the receiver. He heard Nanaki's request and he didn't like it. 

"Cid... please. I know what you're thinking," Nanaki pleaded. He knew what Cid's response would be, yet had no choice. Cid had an airship. Nanaki needed Cid. 

"Let me get this straight. You need the Highwind to help an enemy--" 

Nanaki sighed. "A former enemy." Why did this have to be so difficult?" 

Cid rolled his eyes and propped his boots on the coffee table. "Whatever. You need the Highwind to help a former enemy. And why is this?" 

"It is very long and very involved. Find Reno and then pick up Tifa, Cloud, and the girl who is with them. I will see you here." 

Cid growled an affirmative reply, hung up, and turned around to find Shera. She placed a hot cup of tea on the table and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. They remained in such a state for a few minutes until Shera mustered up the courage to speak. 

"Nanaki's smart. I'm sure it's for a good reason." She smiled, slightly. 

He snorted, "Yeah, yeah. Now where's my tea?" 

Stifling a giggle, Shera playfully mussed Cid's hair up. "It's in front of you!" 

The cigarette dropped from his mouth as he, for the first time, noticed the cup of tea sitting in front of him, the steam rising steadily, the scent drifting through the air. 

It was going to be a long day. 

~*~

She opened her eyes slowly, painfully, and found herself in what appeared to be a lush, beautiful forest. A paradise. 

_Where am I?_

Gen rose to her feet slowly, wiping the dirt from her knees. No one was around her, save a few birds and a squirrel. No Cloud. No Tifa. 

"How?" 

An illusion, she thought sullenly. She had fallen unconscious in Tifa's bar, that she knew. However she got to this forest was beyond her comprehension. It just wasn't right. 

**Go to him.**

She looked around, frantically. Where had that voice come from? 

"Who are you?!" 

**Go to him.**

"Where are you?!" 

**Go to him.**

She fell to her knees, tired and exacerbated. 

"What? Why? ... How?" 

**Go.**

And once again, she fell into oblivion. 

~*~

Bang. Bang. Bang! 

Cloud looked up suddenly, his eyes meeting those of Tifa. _So soon?_ He made a subtle motion to the woman and turned back to the still unconscious stranger, readjusting the cool cloth they had administered to her forehead. 

Bang. Bang. Bang! 

Tifa opened the door to their closed bar, surprised to find that Shera was the cause of the loud rapping on the bar's heavy wooden door. The scientist barged in, obviously weary and catching her breath. 

"We need elixers, potions, antidotes, anything." 

She paused, breathing heavily and in disarray. Tifa looked outside and saw the wavering image of the Highwind in the distance, barely visible in the darkness. 

"Shera, calm down. Breathe..." 

"We found the Turk, Tif. The bastard's half dead." 

~*~

Author's Note: I have to apologize for several things. First of all, I'm sorry for this chapter. It is not exactly my favorite. In fact, it is the _least_ of my favorites. Somehow I convinced myself that it was crucial to the plot, so please don't flame me on that. ^^;

Second of all, I'm sorry that this is taking so long. I have three writing classes this semester, so not only am I writing essays, but poetry, a short story, and thirty pages of screenplay script. Needless to say, my creativity's been tapped about dry these past few months. I am NOT giving up on this fic, though! I like the ending far too much to quit!

The next chapter will be very introspective and... well... anything else would give it away... Toodles! 


	8. Dream A Dream

**

Prophetic Fulfillment

**

A Shinimegami Rena Valentine Production

Chapter 7

Dream a Dream

It was... beautiful.

He opened his eyes once more and found himself on his back, staring to the slowly darkening sky. Grass stretched for miles, shimmering in the setting sun. Trickling water flowed steadily from a nearby stream.

This was a place that Reno had never been. A place he didn't even know existed... but still... 

The first stars of the evening began peeking their ways through the indigo of the sky as a warm wind blew its way past him. He closed his eyes. 

_Star light, star bright..._

Something about this place seemed so right, so perfect. Like the strange familiarity of his slowly regaining powers. And yet... he didn't feel as if he quite fit in. Not yet. 

Reno sat up and looked west, toward the setting sun and dissipating oranges and purples. He closed his eyes and the words returned. 

_"I damn well fucking don't care!"   
"Get your head out of this fantasy.   
"That the best you can do?"   
"You don't know_ shit_ Genesis."_

He thought of Gen and knew he was wrong. 

~*~

"You have a destiny as well." 

Gen turned around and saw the woman. Sad brown eyes, long black hair. She smiled. 

"Atlantis found -- I knew that we should meet in this plane, and I know we shall meet again." 

"How... how do you know me? I've never..." 

"You've never met me." She smiled enigmatically and gracefully turned around, walking toward the dense forest. 

"What do you mean? My destiny? What is..." 

She swept back toward Gen, "Your destiny. I'm afraid I can't tell you." 

Genesis growled in sheer annoyance. _Why bring something up that cannot be spoken of? _

Noting her growing frustration, the woman continued. "The future is not to be shown, it is to be made, experienced. Do not be afraid... You will know all in good time. 

"But for now... all I can show you is the past" 

~*~

"Something is going to happen." 

"What do you mean... something?" Tifa tensed as memories of the last 'something' washed over her. "You have to have some idea." 

"I'm sorry... the scrolls are not the easiest to understand. They are vague.. At best." Nanaki was silent a moment, deep in thought. "How are Genesis and Reno doing?" 

Tifa stood up and stretched, weary. "They're both still unconscious. Shera's doing what she can for them... We'll just have to wait and see." 

Nanaki sighed. "Seems like we'll be doing a lot of that for a while..." 

~*~

Darkness continued its descent upon the strange bluish green fields before him. He looked up to the stars once more and realized that nothing, not even the constellations, looked the same. 

It's like I'm in another world... Another place... Somewhere. 

The sleepy little town lay before him, a pale shade of dim yellow amidst a darkening landscape. Several small cottages surrounding a central courtyard. He didn't need a sign to tell him where he was... something inside him already knew. 

_Thamasa..._

It almost felt like home. 

~*~

It was like a strange dream. 

A strange, annoying, recurring dream. 

Gen opened her eyes. Again. She was beyond tired of this. She wanted to be back where she was before. Back in her own world. Back to a time and place that she was familiar with. 

Instead, she found herself in a dimly lit room - a bedroom. A small boy lay beneath the quilts and blankets, asleep. It took her a moment to realize just where she was. 

"Reno?" 

The little boy turned over in his sleep, his reddish hair in disarray. 

_Wait... Where... How?_

Her train of thought was cut off by the pounding on a door. Gen turned around, startled, and saw a man. He was tall, his eyes a soft bluish green, his hair flaming red. The man took no notice of Gen as he ran to the sleeping boy and grabbed him from the bed, whispering something to the half awake boy. 

A woman then appeared through the doorway. Gen was taken aback. She looked almost exactly like the woman she had seen earlier in the forest, but something was different. Something in her eyes. She grabbed the man by the arm, terrified. "We have to hurry, Jake..." 

He nodded silently, paling as he heard the front door come crashing to the ground. Jake Charlemagne wordlessly placed his son in the arms of the woman and pulled the windows open. They had to get out, get away. Gen watched in silence as the family slipped outside under the cover of darkness, intending to reach freedom. She followed. 

Then she noticed something that made her heart leap into her throat. It had seemed to quiet. Far too quiet, and now she knew why. The air smelled of dew, grass, and gunpowder. They weren't alone. 

She ran, but they didn't see her. Shouted, but they didn't hear. All she could do was watch as a bullet careened from the gun of a hidden soldier, and struck Jakob Charlemagne in the chest. 

~*~

"No..." 

Cloud turned around, and studied the unconscious girl. _What is going on?_

"Don't... it's a trap..." 

She turned onto her side, still unconscious. 

~*~

The ground began to shake underfoot. But it wasn't an earthquake. 

It was something far worse. 

Reno watched in helplessness as the buildings around him shook violently along with the quaking earth, watched people run out of their homes, screaming in terror as they collected their children and watched the ground split open of its own accord. Something was definitely wrong. 

"The fuck?" 

He looked up to the sky, and saw something floating in the air, something he didn't notice before. It was almost like an island. An island in the sky. Something clicked in his brain, the story Gen had told him about the past... 

_The Floating Island... The World of Ruin..._

Reno felt the earth shake harder and knew that everything was changing before him as it had thousands of years before. 

"But how?" 

~*~

Gen fell to her knees in silence. It made no sense. None of it. And yet she was there, reliving Reno's past. She heard the woman cry out as she ran to her husband's limp form. Her son stood alone, seemingly in shock. 

"Jake..." Tears welled in the woman's eyes as she took her husband's hand in her own. "N..." 

A second shot fired and the woman fell to the ground, dead. He hand intertwined with her husband's. 

Gen stared in silence, barely noticing the wailing of the child behind her. 

Then there was silence. 

~*~

Silence. 

Reno watched in silence as everything around him sped up. Before his eyes the town built itself back up, prospered once more, only to fall once again, dying as hundreds of years went by in a matter of seconds. 

It felt otherworldly. 

Just as quickly and suddenly as everything had sped up, everything slowed and stopped, and he stood in an abandoned field of blue and green grass. 

Silence. 

Nothing moved. There was no wind, no running water, no animals. Just silence and stillness. 

"How in the hell..." 

"You mustn't give up." 

Reno looked around him and saw the woman. She smiled warmly, sadness written in her soft brown eyes. He could tell that she'd been through far too much. "Who are you?" 

"That doesn't matter... I am... the future." She seemed to be choosing her words carefully. 

"What?" 

She sat in the grass beside Reno and patted the earth, beckoning him to join her. She looked up to the night's sky, and smiled. A shooting star trapped thousands of light years away, in the stillness she had created. 

Reno awkwardly joined the girl on the grass. After a moment's silence, she sighed. 

"Civilizations rise. Civilizations fall. It's only a matter of time. And circumstance." 

"What are you talking about?" 

"You have a destiny. You mustn't give up." 

Reno rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Not this crap again..." 

"It isn't crap. But it is something that is beyond you. Beyond us all. You have a destiny. You have a duty to uphold that destiny. Or..." 

Reno stood up once again, "Or else what? And don't give me some sort of divine ultimatum, sister..." 

She pulled herself to her feet, smoothing out the creases in her white skirt. 

"Destruction. Chaos. Ruin. And everything you just was will have happened for nothing." She took his hand in her own and closed her eyes. The stillness broke as time sped up once more. 

"You caused this?" Reno looked at her with wonder. 

"I've always had a gift. Ever since I was young. They tried to hunt me down for it... Just like they tried to hunt you down." 

Reno nodded silently as he took in his surroundings. A new town was cropping up, a small village surrounding a central courtyard. The girl took her hand away from his and smiled. 

"Isn't it amazing how the past repeats itself?" 

Reno was taken aback. "What? Are you saying this is the future?" 

A door near him opened and from it ran a little girl in a greenish blue dress, followed by a tall man with long black hair. 

The woman smiled. "Yes... And my past." 

Reno looked from the small girl to the woman before him, noting the faraway look in her eyes. "...That's you." 

She smiled and nodded. 

"Your father?" 

"The closest thing I had growing up." She turned to Reno, a tear slowly sliding down her cheek. "You can't give up, or else none of this will happen." 

Reno felt the woman take his hand once again, as a lightheaded dizziness spread over him. "I'm sending you back now... Where you belong. She's coming." 

_"The time has almost come..."_

~*~

A gasp. 

Reno felt as if he were coming up for air from the depths of the ocean. Gasping, choking. Slowly he began to calm down and take in his current surroundings. 

_Where am I?_

He looked to his right and saw Gen, lying unconscious on the cot next to him. "Gen?" 

He laid back, confused. It was all a dream... 

Wasn't it? 

Something nagged at the back of his mind, something tugged at him. It was too real, too bizarre to be a dream. And the woman looked familiar somehow... Like he'd seen her face somewhere before. She seemed so sad, so knowing... 

He sat up in the bed and rubbed the back of his head, smoothing back wayward locks of hair. 

"I have a bad feeling about all this..." 

~*~

"That's how it happened..." 

Gen turned around and saw the woman once again. She knelt down beside her. "I was only showing you his past. There was nothing you could do. No interference." 

"How?" 

"I've always had this power... They tried to hunt me down as a child, tried to harness it." She sighed. "People are greedy... They'll do whatever they can for power. Step on others, ruin lives, kill innocents. 

"As I got older, they got more persistent, trying to kidnap me... But I always got away. I was lucky. And my powers got stronger, developed more over time. Just a few years ago, I could only send others, people I knew, back in time through memories... 

She smiled again, "And here I am, contacting you, showing you the past, asking for your help." 

"I'm confused." Gen stood up slowly, staring quizzically at the woman. "You're from the future?" 

She nodded. "But that isn't the important thing... She's coming." 

"Who?" 

"You've seen her. You saw her in a dream. But she won't be in the form you saw her in. She will appear as someone else. Stay by Reno. You have to help him. Don't give up..." 

"I'm not sure I understand." 

"You will." She closed her eyes, tiredly. "I have to send you back. I've been in this realm too long... He's waiting for you..." 

Gen cut her off, "But, wait... Who are you?" 

She smiled as she took her hand and began the spell. 

"My name is Ellone Charlemagne Loire. 

  
"...I'm from a future that you must protect." 

  
  


~*~

_"...Legendary power will run down his family line..."_

~Manuscript line. 

~*~

  
A/N: Well, that wasn't what I expected... I didn't think I'd tie in FFVIII so soon, but it pestered me enough, and there it is. I guess if one wants to be nitpicky, this whole thing can be thought of as a crossover, but I'm the author, and I say, "If it takes place [nearly] solely in the FFVII universe/timeline, then it's going in that catagory." 

'Sides, it's still a Reno fic. ^_^ 

I'm hoping this is a sign that I'll be writing and posting more. In getting over strange emotional hoopla, I think my muses came back. They were a little afraid for a while there. I'm not exactly proud of this chapter, but I do think it's better than the last one. I knew the dream sequence chapter would be difficult to handle at best, what with it jumping around so much, so I hope it wasn't really hard to read. ^^; 

I'm not sure what the next chapter will be about (other than the obvious), but I hope to get it out faster than this one took. 

Well, this is getting a bit long. Tell me what you think. I like knowing whether or not this is turning to crap, ya know? 

And if you're hopelessly confused, or have a question about the strange crossoverness of it (Ellone, World of Ruin, etc) Just poke me and I'll clear it up as convoluted as I possibly can. ^_^ 


	9. Mistakes

Prophetic Fulfillment

  


A Shinimegami Rena Valentine Production

  


Chapter 8

  


Mistakes

  
  


"How are your eyes?"

  


She didn't know how long he had be standing there, on the deck of the Highwind. Minutes, hours, either was equally up for being right. Something was bothering him. No, a lot of things were bothering him, this was obvious. 

  


Not like there weren't a lot of things bothering her too...

  


"They work."

  


His voice was quiet, emotionless. He stood bent over the edge of the railing, staring out to the green and brown depths thousands of feet below, seemingly unphased. 

  


Gen looked away, suddenly interested in the wooden floorboards of the airship, grasping for words as she tried to keep their meager conversation afloat. "...That's good... Eyedrops?"

  


The wind picked up, whipping his fiery hair about. "...Yeah... works wonders."

  


"Ah..."

  


He continued staring beyond the horizon as the ship continued its corse, his eyes shielded by a pair of dark sunglasses, something he hadn't worn correctly in quite some time. Avalanche and their two 'guests' were now headed toward the ocean, their destination a mystery. Someone else was calling the shots for now. 

  


"Listen, I'm know I'm very sexy n'all, but if you could stop gawking..." Reno turned around, a lopsided grin slowly spreading across his face, lighting up the darkness that was so obvious on his candid face.

  


"I think I may need those eye drops soon..." Gen moaned dramatically as she pinched the bridge of her nose and sat on the floor.

  


"So... there a reason you're staring at me, or are you just bored..." He sat across from her, leaning against the railing he seemed so fond of.

  


She tapped her fingers against the floorboards. "A little of both, I guess."

  


Reno grinned fiendishly, his mind furiously digging deeper into the gutter it was generally mired in. "There are ways to remedy that..."

  


The tapping stopped as Gen wordlessly rolled her eyes.

  


...

  


...

  


...

  


"So what happened to you, anyway?" 

  


Gen looked up at him, quietly, mulling his question over in her head.

  


"I... don't know... I was talking with Cloud and Tifa..."

  


Reno stifled a snort. _Cloud... he'll put anyone into a coma..._

  


"And suddenly... I heard you... calling me. Then I just passed out."

  


Reno looked up suddenly, stunned. 

  


"I dunno... you sounded like you were in trouble. In pain. It was bizarre to say the least. I was worried... What happened?"

  


Reno played with the zipper of his jacket, "I was an idiot... a fucking idiot..."

  


"You got that right."

  


Reno looked up, startled, to meet the wine coloured gaze of Tifa. She was accompanied by an obviously tired Nanaki.

  


"From what Red tells me, you're a little too important right now to be--"

  


Reno gritted his teeth in annoyance and hoisted himself up, suddenly, ignoring the dizziness that came with the movement. "We're not going to start this shit again, are we? First Gen, then you..." He took a step back, bracing himself against the railing, silently hoping they wouldn't notice.

  


Worry briefly flashed across Gen's eyes, but she remained silent.

  


...That's a first.

  


Nanaki sat on his haunches, eye going from Gen to Reno. "I think we should all meet in the cockpit. Expla--"

  


Reno shoved his hands into his jacket pocket, "I don't..." 

  


_Thamasa. _

  


_Flames._

  


_Ruin._

  


_Destiny._

  


He shook his head, clearing his vision of the memories of a past he had never really seen.

  


"You don't what?" Tifa crossed her arms in annoyance. "Nanaki says that something is going to happen. Something..."

  


"I don't know."

  


"Why do I have this feeling that you're not telling me something?" Nanaki stood up, staring at him, searching for the answer.

  


Reno shrugged. "You forget who you're dealing with, Red." He nodded, forcefully and sighed. "Fine... But can this... breifing wait? I'd like to talk to Gen a little." Reno scanned the deck, noticing, for the first time that they were alone. Gen had obviously exited sometime during their conversation.

  


Tifa looked to Nanaki and nodded. "Sure. We're on our way to pick up Yuffie in Wutai anyway."

  


Reno cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

  


~*~

  


He found her alone by her room, her eyes closed as she felt the sea breeze in her hair. He hated to admit how beautiful she was. 

  


"So... is there a reason you're staring at me, or are you just bored?"

  


He smirked and edged closer to her. "A little of both."

  


She turned to him and smiled. "You're a bad influence, Charlemagne."

  


"It's a gift."

  


He was silent a moment, staring at the persistent gulls, following the Highwind. "There's something I wanted to talk with you about..."

  


"Yeah... as do I..." She mumbled as she played with the straps of her gloves.

  


"Something... happened to me out there..." A laugh escaped from him, a kind of sad, yelp of a laugh. Gen could find little mirth in such a sound. "Actually, a lot of things happened to me out there. A lot."

  


He paused a moment, then opened his mouth to continue, but something wasn't right. Something in the air. He turned away, hearing a soft buzzing noise in the background. "Do you hear that?"

  


"What?" Gen looked about, but heard, and saw nothing.

  


"Something... it sounds familiar." 

  


They were quiet a while, listening for the elusive sound, when the source came into view. A large, black helicopter.

  


"Reeve?"

  
  


~*~

  
  


"We contacted Reeve while you were unconscious... We may need his help." 

  


"What? Are you saying you're all too incompetent to..."

  


"No. Just that this may be too important... too threatening... We need an important figurehead like the president of Neo Midgar to back us." Tifa's face was stern, her voice firm, strong with conviction. Behind her stood an unusually stoic Cloud.

  


Reno turned away, something nagging at the back of his mind.

  


"I don't see what's so..."

  


"...Maybe you two should go... I'll take care of things from here." Gen spoke up from her silent corner for the first time in a while. She'd been unusually silent since she awoke from her coma...

  


Tifa nodded awkwardly, slightly taken aback by Gen's sudden show of leadership. "Sure..." She left the pair, heading downstairs with Cloud.

  


"What was that about?" Gen's arms were crossed, her voice acidic. 

  


Reno looked out to the green land they were heading for. It was only a matter of time before they were there, and that meant...

  


"Are you going to answer--"

  


"I have nothing to say. I don't want to get into it."

  


Gen sighed as she too looked to the horizon. "I don't think I'll ever understand..."

  


"Welcome to my world."

  


"You make vague allusions that something's bothering you, but when someone tries to get close and understand, you close up."

  


"...Please keep your hands and arms in the ride at all times..."

  


Gen growled, audibly, a sound of fury that he hadn't heard since the last time she caused him physical pain. He winced. "If you're going to do this, than I'm not going to put up with it. I'll be in my room."

  


She turned to walk away, but was stopped by his voice piercing through the awkwardness. "I let them down."

  


Gen turned to him, her face blank, but her eyes caring.

  


"I wouldn't be their leader... couldn't. I'm not a Turk anymore. I'm nothing. I don't belong with them."

  


"...Reno." She inched closer to him, but he wouldn't look to her.

  


"They counted on me. They weren't the first to do it, and they won't be the last to be let down."

  


"Reno." She was beside him now.

  


"Mom, Dad, Ayla, Tseng... I'm like... a curse, a disease. A cancer upon whoever trusts, confides, needs me. I'm..."

  


SLAP.

  


"Shut the fuck up already." Gen was furious, tears streaming down her face. "I don't want to hear any of this shit anymore. None of it. Absolutely none of it."

  


"You... You're afraid that you're going to be next."

  


"You aren't a curse. Shiva! This is a load of bullshit. Do you actually believe a fucking word you've said?!"

  


He turned to her, sorrow written in his green eyes, something she had never seen in him before. Reno, the cocky smart ass... sorrow didn't seem to fit on his face, despite what she knew, what Ellone let her see. He was silent.

  


She sniffed, trying desperately to keep the tears from falling. "You can't believe that. Nobody should... No--" She stifled a gasp as she felt something warm pressed against her cheek. He held her face with an uncanny, un-Reno like gentleness, as he brushed a stray tear from her face.

  


He was silent a while, staring into her eyes, inches apart. "You're cursing."

  


She was speechless, unable to garner a response.

  


"I guess I really am a bad influence..." He stifled a chuckle, the laugh never reaching his eyes.

  


"I'm sorry."

  


"Don't be... You've done nothing wrong..." She smiled, despite her tears, and raised a hand to his own, mirroring his actions. She felt him stiffen as she ran her thumb over the scar tissue under his right eye. "You've done nothing wrong..." 

  


It felt perfect, so good. Like nothing he had felt before. Nothing. She continued stroking him, whispering words he barely heard, his mind and body, two separate entities as he felt himself closing the gap between him. 

  


She stared into his eyes, feeling his breath upon her, smelling the vague mixed scent alcohol, cigarettes, and aftershave. Then she felt his lips pressing against her own. Reason told her to pull away, but something else made her stay, made her part her lips and deepen the kiss, tasting him.

  


He pulled away suddenly, his eyes wide with yet another emotion she'd never seen him show. He took an involuntary step back and looked to the floor.

  
  


_"You've done nothing wrong..."_

  
  


"Why?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. Reason finally hit her and she was confused, utterly confused. What she knew, what she wanted to know, what she felt, everything became a blur, a mish mash of emotion and truth.

  


He turned to exit, the sudden movement once again causing a sharp wave of dizziness. He stumbled and braced himself against the wall, allowing him to slide to the floor. Everything used to be so easy, so simple, and now? Reno hated change. He hated feeling the way he was. He hated how things had become. He wanted to be in control, again, but as the days went by, he felt himself losing his hold on everything. And he was terrified. He was lost. He was tired, so tired of everything.

  


None of this should have happened. None of it.

  


He pulled himself roughly to his feet, grasping for the walls. None of it... He knew he had to get out of there. Had to leave her before he did something else he would regret.

  


"I'm sorry... so sorry..."

  


She made a move to get closer to him, but he jerked away, his eyes wild, fearful. He regretted it. Gen felt numb, she could read it in his eyes. He regretted what he, they had done. 

  


He exited the deck as fast as he could, stumbling, but managing to get as far away from her as possible. She stared, unable to move, or respond, her face devoid of emotion.

  


_I've been a fool. I should have pulled away, I should have left him alone. I should have..._

  
  
  


Outside, the Highwind landed on the calm greenery of the Wutaian continent, as did a large, black helicopter. Two men and a woman stepped out and prepared to board the massive airship, curious as to the "situation" and how their former comrade and friend was related. 

  


The wind continued to blow...

  
  
  
  


~*~

  


A/N - Okie... If that ending seems a little hasty, I'm sorry. I needed someplace for it to end, and this seemed like the better place, rather than letting the chapter go on and on with the arrival of the remaining Turks and Reeve. They'll be in the next chapter as will the results of the kiss, Reno's little mental breakdown, and Yuffie. Can't have a fic without Yuffie. *nodnod*

  


That should be out... soon. Yes. Soon... *shifty look*


	10. Through the Looking Glass

**Prophetic Fulfillment**  
_A Shinimegami Rena Valentine Production_

**Chapter 9  
Through the Looking Glass.**

_"I'm not the same fumbling rookie you remember..." _ Elena

"So something's going to happen?"

Nanaki growled under his breath, the fiery hairs on the back of his neck bristling up in annoyance. He hoped, desperately that he didn't look as frustrated as he felt, trying his hardest not to bare his fangs and say something biting and sarcastic. That was Reno's territory, an area Nanaki felt he should never venture into. He was far too mature for that...

It was always the same, and that's what got to him. The questions – each a different reiteration of what was previously asked, or stated. He could almost hear the words springing forth from Reeve's mouth long before they were uttered –

"When? What is it?"

It was difficult, trying to hide the feelings – the constant need to roar, scream, or laugh. Two questions in one.

"We do not know." Nanaki managed, knowing the response he was about to receive.

"What do you mean you don't know? Isn't this a kind of important thing?"

Elena. Sometimes things just didn't register too easily for the blonde. And, although Nanaki had to admit, at least internally, that her sheer force of determination, and her ambition, combined with her strange, downright naive nature was, in fact, almost endearing, she could be... well... annoying.

Annoyed was Nanaki's emotion of the moment. Annoyed. Annoyed. Annoyed.

But he had to hide it. That was his job within the group. Despite the age he actually was, mentally, he had to be the mature one. The one with his feet – all four of them, on the ground. He was the good one, the wise one, the patient one.

_Holy... I'm really tiring of this..._

"The scrolls aren't exactly specific... Rather they allude to the event which will happen... the evil..." He sat on his haunches, sheathing and unsheathing his claws in a vain attempt to control himself.

"Something..." Rude spoke up from his corner. Low, soft, almost silently.

Nanaki looked down at his claws. "Yes. Something."

It was definitely shaping up to be a productive day for Avalanche, the presidency of Neo-Midgar, and everyone else enlisted to help. They had arrived at the Wutaian palace, Yuffie greeting the group, or at least most of them, heartily, leading them into the meeting room where the briefing proceeded. All of Avalanche were present, save Barret and Vincent, a fact that seemed to phase Yuffie slightly. Despite the fact that she was, in fact, the Lady of Wutai, taking over the country when her father stepped down some few months prior, she still maintained a certain degree of youthfulness. Not that she couldn't be serious now that she was 21, she'd just been looking forward to teasing Vincent... Especially since Reno seemed less than apt to play into her fun.

Reno. He seemed faraway, slightly morose, eerily serious. Elena was the most outwardly perturbed by this fact. Rude most likely also noticed the emotional state his former partner was in, but Elena couldn't leave it at that, glancing his way, hoping for some quip or retort to come from his corner. He seemed tired, she could sense that something was wrong. When he did look up, he seemed to be glancing toward the mysterious girl in the other corner... The black haired girl who was likewise silent, staring down at the ground. Reno had yet to acknowledge the Turks' presence.

"So all you know is that something is coming?" Reeve was obviously the most level-headed of his group. He'd yet to wrap his head around the notion that not much was known about the prophecy.

"...Well... there is more." Nanaki stated, hesitation present in his voice.

Elena's head shot toward the red beast, her dilemma concerning Reno momentarily forgotten. "Well why didn't you say so!"

Nanaki stood up, stretched his front legs and sat back down. "You did not give me a chance." He paused a moment, waiting for the woman to settle down. There is mentioning of the chosen one who will vanquish this evil..."

"Chosen one?" Reeve seemed confused.

"Yes... there have been several. Generally whenever something threatens the planet, a chosen one is called..."

"Aeris..." Cloud said softly from near Nanaki.

"Yes... It is my belief that Aeris was, in fact, one."

"Well, this shouldn't be too difficult. We'll just knock on everyone's door, 'Hey, are you the chosen one who will vanquish an oncoming evil?' Heh... maybe we can even print up some fliers." Rude glanced as Elena silently. Somehow she'd gotten really cynical...

Reno shifted in his seat. Nanaki couldn't keep his mouth shut about these things... He just hoped Red would redeem himself by not mentioning his beliefs...

Thankfully, Nanaki seemed to be catching on. Either that or he figured that it should be up to Reno to explain the circumstances to his former coworkers? Friends? Things were getting out of hand... the confusion was... annoying. He stood up and headed for the door. "I will keep you all posted. Cosmanii scholars are working on translating, piecing together, and making sense of the scrolls, but it is tedious. The language is ancient and they have been damaged by fire." He made a motion to Cloud. He was through. Meeting adjourned.

Reno was the first to leave, as silently as he had been since his left the Highwind.

She couldn't believe him!

Elena looked around, desperately wondering where Reno had disappeared to. Everyone had evidently left for their rooms, or gone someplace within the Wutaian palace. Tifa and Reeve were left in the meeting room, Yuffie helping straightening up some of the chairs.

"So you'll be helping us?"

"Of course! Whatever this is, it is threatening Midgar as well."

As much as their political, planet loving talk was interesting, she had more important things to do, like lynching a certain redhead.

Heading toward the entertainment room, Elena spotted another redhead. Nanaki.

_Alright... So..._

Reno sat alone on his still made bed, staring to the cool, slightly frosted windows. It had been unseasonably cold in Wutai, the mountain air helping the weather little. It was unusual to experience snow in the region, but cool rains were normal, depending on the surrounding waters. There was a reason the island was so green.

He sighed, trying to piece together the remnants of his sanity. Thankfully Nanaki had left the room to him, wandered off to speak to Gen. Thus he was left to mull over the past few days. The past forty eight hours in particular.

"Okay... So I used Ultima... and I've never had the materia..." He paced, his posture slouched as it usually was. No one would see, or care. No reason to fake professionalism. He sighed. "So... what? Can I do this whenever?" He paused, growled, and glared up at the ceiling, waiting for a response. "Answer me! Say something! Are you really that useless! No wonder you always need their hel..."

"Who are you talking to?"

Reno's gaze shot to the door, his green eyes wide in shock. "Huh?"

The door opened wider, to reveal blue and blonde. Elena stood on the other end, her face a mix of amusement and concern. Reno berated himself silently. He knew he should have shut the door when Red left. Alas...

She cautiously entered. Reno had always treated her like a sister, albeit like a weak, younger sister, but deep down, she'd always felt somewhat close to him. When Shinra fell, something inside Reno seemed to break. She could see it coming, especially after Tseng's death. He'd resorted to drinking heavier than usual, oftentimes alone. He'd become withdrawn. He looked even more bedraggled, but acted even more ruthless once his mentor was gone. The death of Shinra only worsened things. She knew he'd never exactly liked the company, knew that he did what he did for the gil. Maybe things had caught up with him? She'd never been sure. When Reeve came into power, things took a turn for the worse in their trio. He'd been offered head position in the intelligence agency... Reeve's Turks, but had turned it down without reason. Just said no. He'd shortly disappeared.

She hadn't seen him in over four years. He was... different.

"Red told me you'd be here." Elena tested the waters. "So... how are things?" She didn't know how to deal with him anymore.

"...sub-par." Reno looked out to the window.

Tension hung in the air in thick layers, blanketing the room like scratchy wool. Reno's whole demeanor told Elena that she should leave him be, allow him to deal with things on his own. Despite this, she pushed herself forward, vaulting herself into things, "So... What do you think's going on?"

Reno snorted softly, "You heard Red... Who knows?"

"You know that isn't what I'm talking about. Nice try though, I'll give you that." She moved forward, sitting down next to him, invading his privacy just short of digging through is bags. Reno continued to stare outside.

"...Something's different. You don't look the same."

Reno smirked and glanced her way, bringing his hand to touch the still sore darkened spot below his eye. "Yeah... women..."

"...That isn't what I meant." Elena offered a small smile and shook her head. "It's something else... You aren't the same at all..."

He swallowed in spite of himself, his gaze drifting back to the tan carpeting. Was it really that obvious? Elena had always been the slowest to catch on... her mouth moved faster than her brain. If it was that obvious to her, than how did things seem to Reeve? Rude? He could feel his left hand inadvertently beginning to tremble slightly. He clenched his fist and absentmindedly patted down his jacket. "I need a cigarette..."

Finally finding a stray one in his pocket, he lit it shakily and took a drag. Elena watched him thoughtfully. For as many vices and addictions which plagued her friend, it was almost comforting to see that this hadn't changed much. Sad, but comforting. She coughed, breaking the silence.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

He stared at the burning paper, the wisps of smoke floating to the ceiling. Why did things have to progress here? Truthfully, Reno didn't have a reason. Or at least he didn't have a good one.

"You didn't even say goodbye... Or hello..." She dug her boot into the carpet. "I thought the worst, but hoped for the best... I..."

"I'm not Reno of the Turks anymore."

"...I know..."

"Then why?"

Elena sighed, a growl of a sigh and looked up. "I thought we were friends Reno. It was more than just about the job... I dunno." She fingered the hem of her blue jacket. The attire hadn't changed in five years. "We've missed you. Rude... he doesn't say anything, but I can tell. Things aren't the same."

"I'm... I'll never be that person again."

"I know! But..." Her voice trailed off as she looked back to the floor. What was the use of arguing? Nothing was being solved... Reno finished off the cigarette and dumped the remaining portion into a decorative Wutaian tea cup. Tension again. He wished he had some inkling of what to do, what to say.

"So... who's the girl?"

Reno blinked in surprise, stiffening slightly. "Genesis?"

"Black and silver hair. Sits up really straight. Quiet. Won't make eye contact with you..."

"Yeah... Gen." He tried to hide the anxiousness at his mentioning her name.

"Well?" Despite his attempts, Elena noticed. "Who is she?"

He shifted in his seat again, seemingly preoccupied with the over-softness of the cushions, the sinking feeling both on the bed as well as in his stomach. She had to find out eventually - that he wasn't what he thought he was, who he thought he was. Then again, it was difficult enough for him to come to terms with it. "I used to know her when I was a kid... Our families were friends." He bit his tongue, knowing that Elena was bound to be confused, over several things.

"She doesn't look like a Slum kid..."

"She isn't."

"But...?" Elena looked at him quizzically. "But if you were raised in Midgar..."

Reno stood up and walked to the window. "I used to live in Cosmo Canyon when I was younger... Then we moved... Junon maybe... I don't know..." He squinted outside, watching flocks of birds descending upon their nesting grounds. He paused a moment, hearing the distinct sound of Elena rising from the bed and walking toward him. She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and felt him flinch slightly against her touch. He'd never been too comfortable with physical contact, despite his familiarity with the opposite sex.

"There's more to this than you're letting on."

Reno laughed softly, the first genuine laugh she'd heard from him in years. "When did you get so observant, Rookie?"

She smiled and yanked his red ponytail playfully. "I'm not the same fumbling rookie you remember."

"Have you heard of a magic that can allow one to see the past or the future?"

Nanaki looked up at Genesis in puzzlement. She had been silent, stoic since they left the airship, and though he was curious as to what was bothering her, he decided against pursuing what had happened. She'd tell him, he figured, in her own time. For now, she seemed determined, as determined as she had been when he first met her to go over the archaeological finds. She paced the length of the entertainment room, as Nanaki sat, perched on a large futon. "There is a fabled ability to experience the past and future, but no such magic, so far as I've heard of." He swished his tail back and forth in thoughtfulness. "However, there is much which we do not know."

Gen sighed and plopped herself onto the chair next to him, slouching in an uncharacteristic manner. "I suppose you're right. This is driving me absolutely crazy." She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.

"Why do you ask?"

Gen was silent a moment, mulling over her next response carefully. She had to say something, but there were some things she wished not to admit... "Just... something I've been wondering... It's of no consequence to what is occurring..."

Nanaki stretched his forepaws and jumped off the cushions. "I understand that this most likely has to do with something deeply personal, however if this does relate to the problem at hand... You'll know where to find me. Something doesn't smell right... I'm going to go speak with Cloud and Tifa."

"Yes... I understand." Gen watched her friend exit the room, and stood up. Something didn't feel right...

Something felt off...

Reno clenched his fists, and looked around the room frantically, almost forgetting Elena's presence. She had been in the middle of asking something, her question lost in air drenched with an aura of innate evil. Something was in the room, something that didn't belong. If only he...

"Dammit, are you listening to me!" Her voice cut through Reno's senses, jarring him, making his ears ring. He was trying to listen for something, something incredibly low pitched that Elena, obviously did not notice. He raised his hand to his ear, involuntarily, and growled to his friend, "You still talk too much..."

She was about to respond when she saw a look of restrained pain wash over Reno's features. "Are you okay?"

He winced and squinted his eyes, trying to get used to the slowly rumbling frequency along with a wail of terror from the planet. He looked up to the full length mirror in front of them, watching his reflection lose focus, the reality once plainly visible fuzzing out and swirling, creating inky blackness. He placed an arm in front of Elena, pushing himself between the woman and the growing vortex within the reflective glass. Elena was silent. Reno tried to stifle back a tremble as the planet's terror intensified... This was like nothing he had ever seen.

A figure appeared, beautiful with long dark blue hair and glowing reddish golden eyes. She smiled coldly as she stepped out from the glass, her high black boots echoing within the room, the sound making Reno swallow in fear. She was real... this couldn't be happening.

She continued walking and laughed as she cupped Reno's face in her hand. "I'm as real as the come." He stared into her eyes, entranced, warning bells going off in the back of his head... _How can she hear my thoughts? What? What!_

"It's a gift." She stroked the side of his face, the velvet of her gloves coming into contact with the smoothness of scar tissue. He gritted his teeth, anger setting in. This felt wrong... He could practically smell the evil within her. Her hand traced the contours of his face, down the curve of his neck and resting on his chest as she deftly unbuttoned the material, lingering over his rapidly beating heart.

"You're more beautiful than I would have imagined... And your will is strong... But your powers are..." She began stroking the flesh of his chest, smirking as she felt him catch a shudder before it would be too outwardly noticeable, "Underdeveloped..." Her other arm wound around his still form, massaging his shoulders, caressing his back, and bringing his body closer to her. She stared him, eye to eye, reading the combined hatred and fear within. She could see the emerald fire vaguely glow, the power within him rising, but not phasing her in the least. She pressed her open mouth against his own, embracing him in an unrequited kiss. She lingered a moment, then pulled away slowly, biting down on his lower lip, relishing the iron taste of blood. "A pity... I will have to end you... cut out your heart..." The woman licked the blood off his lips, "End your blood-line." She massaged his chest, and pulled away, "You could have been my own."

Reno blinked drowsily, stumbling back a step. It felt like a dream, he wished it had been. Somehow he had broken free form the hold, a rush of adrenaline pounding within his veins as he realized it had, most likely, been the intervention of the Planet. The woman raised her hand, a ball of energy growing as she aimed for himself and Elena. She intended to destroy him, but he had other plans.

"Annihilation!" She sent the magic crashing forward, as he took a sidestep, guarding Elena. He raised his arms and uttered the prayerful request, "Wall."

A softly glowing field surrounded the pair, dimly glowing blue. The power smashed into the wall, the force sending Elena and Reno skidding to their knees. He panted softly, willing the shield to stay secure. The woman growled and shot an angry gaze toward him.

"Maybe I've underestimated you... But you will be destroyed..." She backed up slowly until she disappeared within the vortex of the mirror.

Reno watched the glass, warily, waiting until it returned to normal, until he saw his bedraggled appearance once more, his eyes glowing a bright emerald color behind the bluish color of his Wall spell. He released the spell and fell back, weariness taking hold over his muscles and bones. He turned to the mirror again, his eyes no longer glowing.

"Reno?"

He propped himself up against the bed frame and looked at Elena as she pulled herself up, facing him. She appeared unhurt, but terrified and confused.

"Oh... Ifrit... that's it... isn't it? It's her..."

He reached his hand to her own, squeezing it reassuringly. He nodded, his voice catching in his throat, "I... think so..."

She stared to the floor, everything flashing through her head. The woman... What was she? And why did she want to kill Reno? And... how were they still alive? She turned to him, noting the look of sheer exhaustion upon his pale face... He didn't hold a weapon... or materia... She couldn't see any armor... He saw her checking him over, sensing what she was looking for. His green eyes met her own and he nodded. There was no way he could have known that spell... No way he could have cast it. It shouldn't have been possible, but it had happened.

"You aren't the same... Are you?"

He squeezed her hand softly, his eyes downcast. Everything made sense. His silence, the aura about him, his reaction concerning everything and anything concerning the scroll and the prophecy. She could feel it. She knew.

"The chosen one... it's you."

Author's Ramble : This will be the last chapter I write before I redo the previous ones. I'm actually quite proud of it... I think I've accomplished what I wanted to in all my other chapters, stylewise. But I'll leave that up to you, wonderful readers, to decide.

Christmas break means many things. Egg nog. Another Christmas fic. And hopefully quality in this one. I'd hate for this to end up another unfinished piece of hell. I have plans for this one right down to the ending.

So, with reconstruction now officially in process, reviews are very helpful. Very. So feel free to say something... ;


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